Chronicles of Absolution: The Failed Demon
by Kirabaros
Summary: 3.03. There are some people who are really good at their jobs and others are just plain bad. What do you do however when the worst demon possible throws at you things that are best left for crazy people to imagine? Just don't blow a head gasket after kicking the bucket while Sam, Dean and Angela are drawn into a place that's just... well...
1. Chapter 1

**Chronicles of Absolution: The Failed Demon  
**

**Chapter 1**

_Now_

_It was rather a shock to see it but it shouldn't. She knew it was possible for it to be done but certain measures had to be taken. It was a path that she knew well and it was towards perdition if one wasn't careful. She would know since she had seen it before. To see him… to see Sam do what she could do, it was like a pang in the heart. It certainly was a surprise to Dean and he reacted the best way he knew and that was through anger._

_ "You're gonna explain this? Well how about you start with – who she is. And what the hell is she doing here?" Dean looked angrily at the girl until it dawned on him that it was Ruby._

_ She knew it was Ruby the moment she walked in and it took a lot of willpower to not go incredible hulk on the demon. The temporary truce was over though when Ruby decided to pin Dean and grab his neck. She let it loose and yanked Ruby away and pulled her knife out and held it to the demon's throat. "Hi Ruby. Long time, no see."_

_ "Nice to see you too bitch," Ruby muttered, "How was it being someone else's bitch?"_

_ "Wouldn't you like to know?"_

_ "Angie, please. Let her go."_

_ She looked up to see Sam looking at her. She didn't let go immediately as she locked eyes onto his. He was begging her to trust him on this. Slowly she released Ruby by lifting the knife from her neck and letting her go. She looked at Ruby and said, "Same as before hell bitch."_

_ "Oh I know the rules," Ruby replied as she narrowed her eyes at her._

_ "Ruby, he's hurt. Go." Sam motioned for Ruby to help the man that was on the ground. That he was alive after that exorcism was a miracle since it wasn't always the case that the victim was alive. It certainly was better than the knife in terms of odds._

_ Angela watched as Ruby took the man off to the ER. It hurt that Sam hadn't asked her for her help since it was her specialty but then again she was pissed. To ask of herself to heal while pissed could warp any good she could accomplish. So she let them go and stood there after Dean walked out on Sam. She turned her gaze towards Sam and studied him and she said, "So I see you learned a few things like me."_

Angela stood there in the middle of the field, staring at the headstone that had the name of someone she knew long ago. She really hadn't intended to come up this way for another month as per her habit but she felt compelled to and it was on the way to the next job… whenever Dean or Sam happened to find it. She needed some time to think and reflect.

It really had been a surprise to learn that Sam had been consorting with Ruby of all people after she had witnessed his exorcising ability. To be honest with herself though, she wasn't that upset about it. The only thing she was upset about was Ruby and that was something that Sam knew and they agreed silently that she would behave herself if Ruby happened to come along. She was actually impressed that Sam had learned to be that good within a span of months. Of course she would never admit that much to Dean since he was already upset about it.

Of course that led to a whole argument that had her being pushed under the bus literally and left her stuck in the middle. The case with the Rugaru, she had to admit that Sam was right since she was a firm believer in the power of choice. The more she thought about it, it was like double standards were being applied and she wasn't sure that she liked it.

_"You wanna know why I've been lying to you Dean? Because of crap like this," Sam yelled as he pointed downward in an angry motion._

_ Angela had moved to catch up but she stood a fair piece away. Again, she was familiar with Indian fighting. She said nothing as Dean replied, "What?"_

_ "The way you talk to me, the way you look at me, like I'm a freak!"_

_ "I do not," Dean protested._

_ "You do or even worse, like I'm an idiot, like I don't know the difference between right and wrong!" Sam looked really upset at the moment and Angela wanted nothing more than to say something but this was something that needed to be gotten out._

_ "I mean you're kinda strolling a dark road lately."_

_ "You have no idea what I'm going through but you do Angie." Sam looked at Angela apologizing that he was throwing her under the bus._

_ "Oh really?" Dean looked between Angela and Sam._

_ "Dean, calm down," Angela started in that calm voice that could either calm someone or just infuriate them further. "I do understand because of what I am."_

_ "So you just ran crying to Angie…"_

_ "Dean, stop it," Angela said in the same tone. "I understand because, as I've said before, I have demon blood in my veins too. Where do you think the freaks come from? Then there's me and those like me but that's not as important. It's not about the what but the who. I agree that we should just talk to Jack. Believe me I know better than anyone what it's like to go from human to this." She motioned to herself._

Angela looked at the headstone. It said, "AD 1980." It was followed by a Latin inscription that essentially was a protection against possession and the usual. AD, short for Adrian, and pretty good with the witch mojo was one of her strays that followed her in the early years and then went off on his own. He died because of what he was involved with and she was only sorry because she hadn't been in a position to help him.

He died doing the right thing though. He put himself in the line of fire and took a bullet for her. Well it wasn't a bullet but he did sacrifice his life for hers. He did it in an attempt to redeem his past actions and earn forgiveness from her. The truth was that he had it the moment he said he was sorry and started to make things right. His sacrifice, he did for himself.

Angela stared at the headstone. It was pretty much in the middle of nowhere but not too far from where they were staying. She took a couple of breaths and watched as it created plumes of smoke in the air. It reminded her of that night when… She really couldn't remember but it had to do with Mary and the night she made the deal.

On the way to the Rugaru case, Dean had mentioned his blast to the past. She listened as he described his mother. The funny thing was that it was exactly how she would describe Mary. They had been a pair then. They had been happy.

"A little late for you to be paying a visit, isn't it?"

Angela gave a slight smile and looked up, "And here I was thinking you were angry with me. I called Gabe."

Gabriel joined Angela at the headstone and replied, "I'm not mad at you, Cat. I just thought that you were angry with me. I remember the last time."

"It's not your fault Gabe. Things happened and we're here now," Angela replied giving a slight smile. She gave a slight shrug of her shoulders as her breath fogged the night sky. "I got two months in the clink and then two months running and now I'm a lean, mean fighting machine."

Gabriel studied his Cat. She was thinner than when he last saw her but it was pure muscle. She was still beautiful though. Her face was a little thinner but it accentuated the delicate arches of her face. Her hair was longer but still the dark color that accentuated the bronze look of her skin. He teased her, "Skinny but pretty."

"Oh and what was I before? Plump?"

"Fat." Gabriel overemphasized with his arms while smiling at Angela. He was rewarded with a punch to the arm. He feigned hurt, "Hey I bruise easy."

"You do not," Angela contradicted while giggling at Gabriel's pouting. She sighed as she smiled. She felt better than she had the whole day. "I know what you are Gabe."

"Sure you do Cat," Gabriel replied with a knowing look. He took a step forward until he was toe to toe with her. "You're so good that you know exactly what I'm going to do next." He raised his brow with a smirk on his face.

Angela gave a similar smirk as she raised her brow in a challenging way. She looked up into the hazel eyes that were all Gabriel and stared. She was ready for the quick move he attempted and batted his hands away using the moves that she had learned from him. "See? I know you Gabe."

Gabriel gave a full smile as he dropped his fighting stance. "You know enough Cat."

"Just as you know enough about me," Angela replied as she softened her voice.

"Well I did learn something new."

"If you mean the fact that I can manipulate the spirit realm much more easily then you'd be correct," Angela replied. There wasn't much that she couldn't hide from Gabriel. He knew her better than she knew herself at times and never failed to point it out when she needed a hand. "I suppose you know about what I can do with demons?"

"I always knew you could do that. It was just a matter of when," Gabriel replied. At the look she gave him, he added, "Cat, I knew you were special the moment I laid eyes on you when you were a little girl and I'm not talking about the other stuff that came later. I mean what's in there." He pointed at her chest where her heart was. "That's always been the key."

Angela looked down at where Gabriel was pointing at. She knew Gabriel didn't bullshit when it came to the important stuff. "My heart?"

"Heart and soul, sweetie," Gabriel replied as he lowered his hand. He peered at her and held her gaze. He gave a gentle smile. "Heart and soul."

Angela gave a slight hum as she smiled, "You always did know the way to a girl's heart Gabe." She put her hand on his shoulder in that familial gesture they always had. "Thanks."

"Hey, you're my girl, Cat. Just because I don't call doesn't mean that I'm not watching."

"Oh now I feel like I'm being watched by a perv," Angela teased.

Gabriel took the hand that was on his shoulder and held it in his hands. He rubbed his fingers over her hand feeling the calluses on her palm, the lines and contours of her hands. They were the same slenderness and prettiness and yet he could see the deadly capacity within them. Her nails were neatly trimmed and filed and only accentuated the slender fingers that were curled in his hands. "You've taken care of your hands."

"You wouldn't be saying that a few days ago. I was in training," Angela replied as she watched Gabriel run his hands over her hands.

"You still take good care of them," Gabriel replied as he gave a last appraisal. He couldn't help it and gave a kiss to the top of her hand, right on the knuckle. He gently released her hand and smiled at her. "Feel better?"

Angela smiled, "Yeah."

Gabriel looked down at the headstone. He had been there when she buried the kid. Granted she didn't see him, he was still there. He knew the kid and what happened and like a loving parent, she took care of him when he died. "He was a good kid Cat."

"He was," Angela replied as she looked down. She knew that history could repeat itself but it was up to her to take the step and make the little changes. She nodded as she reassured herself. "Let them take a leap and it is only then that they learn they can fly."

"Good advice," Gabriel replied, pleased that his girl made up her mind about a few things. "You'll be okay?"

"As well as always Gabe. Don't be afraid to call," Angela replied as she gave a sisterly pat to Gabriel's arm.

"Don't worry. I'll always watch out for you." Gabriel said it and meant it but it didn't mean that he was going to hound her steps. It was just like the advice he gave her a long time ago and she repeated to him just now. She knew what he meant and he didn't have to explain himself. He gave her a gentle kiss on her cheek. "See ya later Cat and go kick ass."

Angela had been smiling and looking at nothing in particular when the familiar fluttering of wings filled her ears. She gave a sigh and kneeled to touch the headstone. She said, "Thanks AD. You were forgiven by me. I hope you were able to forgive yourself." She then stood up and turned to head down the road.

It wasn't a long walk in her view but long enough from where she had buried AD to the motel where they were staying the night. She walked at a leisurely pace and was surprised that Sam was waiting outside for her. She gave a slight smile as she said, "A little late for you to be out."

"I could say the same to you," Sam replied as he gave a slight intake of breath. He had been waiting for her ever since he told Dean that he was going out for a walk.

"I said I would be a while. It was a private errand to attend to," Angela replied as she adjusted the wool coat she had been wearing since it was unusually cold. She took in Sam's choice of coat and noticed that he was at least wearing layers. She couldn't help it though and added, "You decided to tempt my wrath?" She pointed at his coat and gave a slight chuckle when Sam gave her a confused frown.

"I have layers on," Sam replied sounding like a petulant child.

"Just be grateful that I'm not making you look like a tick about to pop." Angela smiled to let Sam know that she was teasing. She became serious when she asked, "So really why are you out here in this near freezing weather?"

"Just felt like it," Sam replied. The truth was he wanted to talk to her about the whole demon blood thing and what Azazel did to him. He also wanted to apologize for putting her in the middle like he did.

"Sam, you don't tempt weather that makes me feel like I'm in a field on a spring day just because you feel like it," Angela countered. She studied him for a moment before asking, "Seriously, what's on your mind?"

Sam made a slight face before saying, "Well… I wanted to apologize. About what I said; the last case… I shouldn't have pulled you in like that. It wasn't fair."

"Well I hardly think comparing me to you is fair since there are differences on that level," Angela replied.

"Angie, I'm being serious."

"I know Sam. I get why and to be honest maybe it's a good thing." She peered at Sam a little to look at his expression. "Let's face it, we've never really discussed something like this though I am not sure if I should wait for daylight on this type of conversation."

"Why would you wait for daylight?"

"First rule about Indian fighting," she replied with a straight face. She was being serious though since there were certain conversations that you had to have a god sense of timing about. She figured this was one of them but she was willing if Sam wanted to pursue that line of thought.

"What does this conversation have to do with Indian fighting?" Sam was thoroughly puzzled by her choice of words.

Angela studied Sam before getting a smile that was a cross between amusement and other things that she wouldn't dare tell him about. "I'll explain but let's just walk. I wouldn't want you to freeze your butt off. Dean won't forgive me if you caught a cold." She slipped her arm around his and gave a tug to get him to move. She gave a slight look when he didn't move and added, "You really want to just stand there?"

Sam couldn't help but smile. She was right in that Dean would probably raise holy hell if he got sick because he was stupid about bundling up. "Fine but please explain what you mean."

Angela led the way to nowhere in particular but it would be within range of the motel. She began, "Indian fighting, the phrase, well, I did do a bit of that but it is an expression I use. Mostly it is for certain types of conversations that I learned are avoided in certain settings and you just have to time it right. Politics and religion are two."

"I get it," Sam replied as it dawned on him. "Angie, I do mean it that it wasn't fair. Dean and I, we both accept that there are things that you can do that may freak us out in the beginning but… I guess what I want to say is that you're different from me."

"I can agree that we are different in that you are male and I am female but really I see little difference with the other thing." Angela looked at Sam. She had time to think about it and it was apparent that he had too.

"I think there is. Azazel bled into my mouth when I was six months and now I have demon blood in me," Sam countered. "You… you were born that way and you did say that the monsters and demons came from the same stock. In a way it is… more acceptable." Sam frowned at his choice of words. Even that didn't sound right; like he was giving her a free pass to be a monster when she wasn't.

"Well that's a minor difference again," Angela replied seeing the trouble he was having in putting it into words. "We're the same in that there are things about us that are strange and unusual and we're trying to take something considered dark and use it for good. You said that, not me."

Sam wasn't sure. "Then why didn't the angels tell Dean to stop you from using your abilities but they did for me?"

"Feathered dicks," Angela muttered. She had a good reason why but she wanted to see how much Sam had done on his research. "How far have you gotten on your challenge?"

Most people would have thought her question was beside the point yet Sam and Dean both knew that when she said certain things, there was a purpose to it. In this case, it was the challenge she had presented him a while back. Sam gave a short clearing of his throat since he did find out a few things and he was a bit more confused than ever. He replied, "Well you told me what malachi meant and that it means messenger. The clue you gave about the Bible pointed me to the fact that messenger and angel are synonymous."

Sam paused and Angela looked at him expectantly. He didn't say anything so she prompted, "Anything else?"

"Angie, to put it another way, Malachi of Absolution would be the Angel of Absolution. It doesn't make much sense considering…" Sam paused, not wanting to sound insulting.

"Strange I know. I like to think of it as an excuse to account for the fact that there is a dhampir running around with healer abilities," Angela replied to save Sam from feeling like he was going to be put in the doghouse. "I know I'm no angel but then again I gave up arguing with what is written."

"So there is more?"

"What did you think?" Angela chuckled. "Oh Sam, the things that are out there… There is stuff out there that is not even the crap I spread." She looked at Sam and added, "I was serious about it being your challenge and I would point you in the right direction. Did you learn anything else?"

"Well Dean talked to Castiel while you were in a cage and he said that he found you and talked to you. Something about always being able to find you." Sam looked at her with a puzzled look.

Angela thought about it. That Sam wasn't going to figure out quite easily. She might need to dip into her giving hints pile. The other part… "So you know that malachi is synonymous with messenger and angel. I suggest you continue on that track and you might have to get down and dirty."

"You really are enjoying this aren't you? Why not just come out and say it?"

"You know the answer to that Sam," Angel replied to his query with a soft tone.

"There's a method to your madness," Sam replied in a half exasperated and half teasing tone. He should have known that what he wanted to talk about would fall back onto his research project. He half regretted accepting the challenge but it did provide more answers than what had been presented so far.

"Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding," Angela replied as she quoted from Proverbs.

Sam gave a slight hum and smiled a bit. "Thanks Angie."

Angela released Sam's arm to get a better look as they continued to walk, "For what?"

"Just… listening."

"Hey, I'm not one to judge on this. Just bear in mind what I said about handle with care. You have choices in your life and the only way you know if they are right is if you take that leap off the cliff. You think I lasted this long playing it safe?"

Sam gave a thoughtful toss of his head. She had said that multiple times and he was under the impression that she was trying to talk herself into playing nice with Ruby. They certainly seemed to agree to disagree and it was sort of like a truce between them but not quite that resumed when she and Dean walked in on them when he was practicing. "You know I decided I was done with it."

"And that's fine. Like I said, I'm not judging."

Sam was about to say more when he was hit by something on the back of his shoulder. He couldn't reach it and ended up taking a step and the ground fell away beneath him. He felt his arm being jerked as a hand clasped around his wrist and he looked up to see Angela gritted her teeth as she held on with one hand. That she could was a testament to her abilities.

It was rather more of like watching an action movie while Sam watched Angela use her free hand and her feet to kick at what was unmistakably a demon. It was totally a surprise when she pulled him up, let go and then caught him with her other hand so she could give a kick and a punch to the demon that was hounding her.

It was over the moment Angela gave a kick and then used her powers to send the demon flying. Sam couldn't see but he assumed it was gone since Angela started to slowly pull him up and get a better grip with her other hand. It was short lived when the ground beneath her feet gave way and she fell in still holding on. Sam thought they were going to land in a heap at the bottom when their momentum stopped. Looking up, he saw that she had grabbed a thick root and was holding on.

Angela looked up at her hand gripping the root and then down at Sam. She then said in a fit of humor, "Well I always did want to just hang around."

* * *

**A/N:** And 3.03 kicks off with memories and thoughts as well as a long overdue conversation with Gabe. Looks like Sam and Angie got in trouble again. Stay tuned for more on The Failed Demon...


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"I'm gonna rip their lungs out."

"Dean, sit down before you hurt yourself," Angela said as she took a look at the back of Sam's shoulder.

After climbing out of the pit with Sam hanging onto her, much to his embarrassment, they made their way back to the motel where Dean's sharp eyes picked up the dirt clinging to their clothes and the odd angle Sam's shoulder was hanging. He immediately began on the Dean Inquisition and got the whole story about how they were walking and talking and Sam got hit, he fell in a pit and Angela beat off the demon that did it while holding on before she fell in too.

"Don't talk to me like I'm four," Dean countered.

"Well you're certainly acting like it," Angela replied in that calm manner as she gripped what looked like a dart from a dart game and pulled it out of Sam's shoulder in a quick and decisive action. She was quick with the towel to staunch the bleeding and applied pressure.

"Yeah because some douche ass demon messed with my brother and sister," Dean countered. He paused when he realized that he said the word 'sister' out loud. "I mean, my best girl."

Angela let it slide as she held on the towel, feeling Sam's muscles ripple from the pain. The dart hit its mark but seriously? The fact that a dart from a bar's dart game was used had her raise her brow in surprise and the absurdity. Not to mention the fact that someone dug a pit for either her or Sam to fall in. It was so… cartoonish almost. "Sam, hold onto this while I get the stuff."

Sam complied by reaching up with his good arm to hold the towel in place. He said, "Dean, Angie's right and you need to calm down. Look the demon that did this, it was like it had no clue."

"You're kidding me right?" Dean looked at his brother incredulously while topless Sam was holding a towel and trying not to grimace in pain. "Since when does a demon not know what they're doing?"

"Beats me but that's what it seemed like," Sam replied.

"And how could you tell? I mean you were hanging onto Angie's hand and she was the one kicking ass."

"Well that part it got right," Angela said as she came back with a gauze packet as well as some water and the jar of antibiotic. "Attacking the enemy while distracted… that usually is what a demon does." She tapped Sam's hand gently and took the towel and slowly removed it.

The bleeding stopped, which was a good thing, and it wasn't deep. It was a puncture wound and the arm would be sore for a day or so but no stitches were required; just the antibiotic and keeping it clean. She began to clean the wound and wipe away and dirt and grime. She kept her concentration as she continued, "As to the why, probably fairly obvious. The question is the timing and that sort of thing."

"Okay so why here and now? Is it because the obvious?" Dean looked at Angela.

Angela didn't answer right away as she finished cleaning the wound and picked up the antibiotic. She dabbed some on her finger and started rubbing it gently so as not to break the scab that was starting to form. "Usually is the case Dean. However I don't think that this demon will try again."

"Not after the ass kicking you gave it," Sam replied as he adjusted his shoulder to accommodate the cool feeling of the antibiotic. He had refused her using her healing ability mostly because he didn't want to become dependent on that. He had seen her become exhausted from such a thing and if something was after them, he didn't want her caught with her pants down.

"I hardly call sending it crashing into a tree ass kicking but thanks all the same," Angela replied as she finished the last of the antibiotic and put the gauze patch on. "There. Amazingly clean so it won't really leave a mark."

"You're the sorcerer Angie," Dean said as he admired her handiwork. He then grinned, "So you actually lifted Sam out with one hand and caught him with the other?"

"Dean."

"Shut up Sam. It isn't every day that you get a girl that can lift a guy," Dean countered. "Sort of like a caveman thing but in reverse."

"You're confusing porn with reality again," Sam replied as he slowly pulled a t-shirt on. "It's nothing new since you and I have both seen her lift things heavier than that."

"Oh yeah? How did it feel to be hauled out like a girl; with her doing the heavy lifting?"

"That's enough you two," Angela entered as she walked to put away stuff.

"Come on Angie. It isn't every day I hear that you hauled Sam's heavy ass out of a hole on your back," Dean countered in a petulant tone aware that she did it again. She always managed to calm a situation whenever she spoke and tried to stop an argument from breaking out.

"Nothing new to me," Angela countered as she zipped up the medical supplies. She paused to look at her hands. She noticed one of her fingers was bent slightly odd. She felt along it and noticed that it had been dislocated. She hadn't noticed since she was running on adrenaline and her concern was Sam's shoulder and the state of his arms since she could have easy pulled them out of their sockets.

It was nothing to take the finger and then pop it back in and she did it in front of the boys. She didn't bat an eye when she did it but just lifted her finger to inspect it. She moved it and examined it much like a toddler would inspect their fingers. "I've hauled heavier things when necessary."

"Yeah right," Dean replied as he watched her wiggle her fingers, ignoring the look from Sam.

"Oh yeah I have. You have any idea what a bitch it is to lift a wagon that has lost its wheel and hold it while the replacement is being put on? Not to mention you're in hostile territory when you're doing it?" Angela gave a lopsided smile as she felt her finger and then the rest of her hands to make sure nothing else was broken or dislocated. The smile was to hide the fact that the dislocated finger hurt and she was feeling the soreness from climbing out of the hole she and Sam fell into.

"I take it you've been there, done that," Sam replied as he rotated his shoulders. They were sore but it wasn't like it was going to take him out of the hunting game.

"Yep and it was kind of interesting; people thinking that you're one of those circus freaks. I think that was one of the most fun times but that band of travelers sure was grateful," Angela replied giving an amused frown. She used it to hide the fact that she snuck the bottle of the really good pain pills out and palmed it.

"I can just imagine," Dean replied finding it an amusing story. He knew she was strong since she practically had to carry him and Sam out of mining tunnels and she managed to undo the latch to that bomb shelter in the Morton House. Plus she could rip a good size branch off a tree. "So we good for now?"

"Yeah," Angela frowned like Dean was crazy for hinting that there was something to worry about. "Just do the usual: salt lines. Nothing to worry about."

Sam frowned at her choice of words but didn't say anything. Instead he watched as she made her way to the door and did a cursory sweep before leaving the boys alone. It was only then that Dean said, "So really Sam, how'd you like getting your ass hauled out of a hole by a girl?"

Sam threw a bitch face at Dean as he supported his injured shoulder as he rotated it. It wasn't that bad. He was more concerned that the sudden weight when they fell and stopped suddenly hurt her and she wasn't saying anything aside from the dislocated finger. He saw her snake the vicodin out of the bag but didn't say anything.

Seeing that Dean was expecting some sort of answer, he replied, "Nothing I wouldn't do if the situation were reversed."

"That's a lame ass answer," Dean countered. "Come on, the one time she carried the both of us we were passed out like girls."

"It was nothing Dean. She grabbed me as I fell and…"

"And she yanked you up and caught you with the other hand like some cheap kung fu movie. You gotta admit Sam that is pretty awesome like her Matrix act." Dean knew that she would have done the same for him but the fact that it was Sam, he knew she would be motivated to do more.

"Dean, come on, leave it," Sam said as he went to get ready for bed. He turned to see that Dean was not going to let it go. "You wanna know? Frankly I was more concerned I ripped her arm out of the socket."

"Fine," Dean replied as he held his hands up in surrender. He knew not to push when Sam got that way.

Sam gave one more look before running a hand through his hair and got into bed. He turned so that his bad shoulder wasn't touching the bed. It put his back towards Dean but he knew his brother wasn't going to take it personal. Besides the added privacy allowed him to think about what he had seen and wonder if she really was fine.

The Rugaru case wasn't too long ago and she got a couple of nasty hits from Jack. She brushed it off as nothing and he didn't say anything. She was pretty convincing about it and he did think for a time that she was as she said. Dean had been right in that she could make you believe a lie if you let it in. Sam though managed to notice a couple of winces when she thought that no one was looking. Yet he still remained silent. Part of it was that he was hoping she would come clean to him and Dean but he knew she wouldn't. She always considered her injuries less important than others. The other part was… he wasn't sure what to call it.

He adjusted his position as the light was turned off. His shoulder felt better without the pressure but he was still bugged about the vicodin she took. He had never seen her take pain pills that strong before and with her metabolic rate… if he had a clue… it could be a recipe for disaster. He couldn't let her do that.

* * *

Angela pressed her back on the door of her room once she shut the door. Letting out the breath she had been holding she couldn't help but let out a hiss of pain. It was instinctive to put a hand on her abdomen and then feel around her left ribs. She grunted as she touched sore spots all over the place. She really hadn't expected that.

Taking her coat off and tossing it on the chair, she walked slowly towards the bathroom and turned on the light. She half expected to hear Cerebus harrumph at her or Setna give a meow. As it were, they were back with Bobby keeping the grizzled hunter company. Either one of them would have been good company now.

Slowly she lifted her t-shirt and pulled it off. She had no qualms about her modesty since she was wearing a bra and at the moment she was in pain. So it really wasn't a big deal. She winced as she lowered her arms and leaned heavily on the counter where the sink was.

_Damn it used to be that I didn't need to hover when I needed a moment._

Standing up straight she looked at her torso in the mirror and noticed the bruises one the left side of her body. There were a few on the right side but those were nothing. They were healing pretty well even if they had been aggravated by that bloody demon. The left though was what was bothering her and the reason why she snaked the vicodin.

The bruises on her left were virtually all colors of the rainbow. It looked worse than it felt and that was attributed to the fact that she had gotten a couple of bruised ribs that might be cracked now. She made a slight face at the sight and muttered, "So much for talking to Jack." She hissed as she tentatively poked at a spot.

The plan to talk to Jack Montgomery was a good one. She could understand where Sam was coming from and she understood better than he and Dean what it felt like to be normal one moment and then realize you can do something that defied anything possible. There were also the cravings. It was a detail she hadn't mentioned. She had cravings for blood but she didn't understand it until her mother gave her some pig's blood. It was a disgusting side effect that she remembered with clarity in the pit.

Unfortunately Jack had tasted first blood by killing the hunter Travis. Angela gave a wry smile at the thought of that hunter as she wrapped some ice in a towel and put it on the worst of the bruises to bring down the swelling. Travis had given her a wary look when Sam and Dean introduced her and she didn't hesitate to notice how he manipulated it so he had a knife within easy reach. She didn't doubt that he knew she wasn't human and she suspected that he said something to the boys.

Jack of course started on the course of becoming a full blown Rugaru. He ambushed them when they went to help and gave Dean a nasty one and locked Sam in a closet. He had no idea what to do with her since she had bared her fangs but stood down. That was a mistake and now she was looking at it. She felt bad they had to kill him and she knew that Sam felt worse.

Angela sighed as she held the ice compress on her abdomen while she walked through her room to pull out a clean shirt to sleep in as well as what she privately called dick pants but they were those yoga or dance pants that really emphasized her hips and legs. She wore them because they were comfortable but she really disliked the fact that they clung to her figure. They were just right for the current weather. It was still too warm for sweats.

As she dug through her bag, she came across the hoodie that Sam gave her. She glanced at that and the t-shirt she had pulled out. The hoodie looked more inviting at the moment and it did look baggy on her frame; probably more so now that she had lost a bit more weight. She threw the t-shirt back in her bag and laid out the hoodie.

It didn't take long for her to use the ice to try and reduce the swelling. Her body temperature helped with that. The yam came next but she found that she only had enough for probably the whole right side of bruises and cursed at her inattentiveness so she put it gingerly on the worst of the bruises but that didn't get rid of the pain. That was what the vicodin was for and now she was staring at the bottle, debating on whether to stick it out with the pain or take them and get at least a few decent hours of sleep.

As Angela stared at the bottle she recalled the last time she took something as strong. It wasn't a pretty picture because she wasn't in pain… well, not physical pain. It was right after the pit and she indulged on the best thing. They called it chasing the dragon in order to be polite. She wasn't addicted like normal humans since she quit and she had poppy seed muffins on occasion and didn't suffer for it. She disliked her physiology that was human in appearance but was a whole level of freak that one couldn't begin to contemplate.

Sam called himself a whole new level of freak. He lived with the prototype of his type of freak. She was the prototype since she hadn't heard of other dhampirs doing what she did. Angela sighed and felt the pressure on her ribs and twitched her lips. She couldn't go another night with poor sleep.

Slowly she twisted open the bottle and peered into the near full bottle. She lifted a bottle of the good drugs from various clinics and kept them under lock and key for cases that resulted in serious injuries like bruised kidneys and broken bones. It helped that they were actually left for her when she paid her visits after hours since she knew the people who ran the clinics and she paid them back in cash.

She poured out two pills and capped the bottle and put it in her jacket pocket and went to get a glass of water. She had just finished swallowing the pills when she heard a knock on her door. Frowning, she pulled the hoodie on and went to open the door. The result had her raise a brow and saying, "I was thinking that the night's adventures would have you out like a light. What are you doing up Sam?"

"Couldn't sleep," Sam replied standing outside trying not to make it obvious that his might stroll was very impromptu.

"Shoulder bothering you?" Angela asked the question as she stood back to let Sam in. She wasn't going to let him stand out there and freeze.

"No."

Angela made a small sound and walked over to where the courtesy coffee pot was and turned on the warming pad for tea. "Then what's bothering you? The whole thing that actually did happen? Because let me tell you there's something fishy about it and I would like to investigate but in the morning."

Sam stood inside her room and looked around. He had to admit that his idea to talk to her sounded good when he thought about it. Now that he was here, it was starting to be a little weak. He replied, "That sounds okay… I think. I mean setting a pit trap is a bit simple even for you." He frowned a little as he said it.

"Sometimes simple is best."

"I guess." Sam took a breath and thought about what to best say next. He watched as she went through the motions of making tea. "But even you like a little complication."

"Maybe," Angela replied as she came back carrying two cups and handed one to Sam. She really didn't want any but it was like a default setting for her going to way back when. You offered tea to your guest and you poured one for yourself out of politeness. It was a testament to how tired she was if she was operating on default while her focus was on the conversation; that and the fact that it seemed that the drugs were kicking in. She motioned for Sam to sit and took the other chair. "So what really has you here on my doorstep nearly freezing your ass off?"

It sounded rude but Sam wasn't put off by it. He decided to go right for the throat, "Jack got you a lot worse than you made it out, didn't he?"

Angela raised her brow as she held the cup in her hands in her lap. "What makes you say that?"

Sam sat back and returned the raised brow with an annoyed look. At times he was amused when she would answer a question with a question but other times it downright annoyed him. This was one of those times and he checked himself to prevent himself from shouting at her. "I saw you snake the vicodin before you left and I can smell the yam. You've used it often enough."

Angela knew she could lie and possibly piss Sam off and he wouldn't be fooled at all. She really didn't want to keep secrets but sometimes it was like her tea making; it was a default reaction but even that was a piss poor excuse. She didn't say anything though and just looked down at her hands.

"Angie."

"What is there to say? You caught me," Angela replied looking up and feeling exhausted. "I'm tired of getting half a night's sleep."

Sam could tell that the slight attempt at humor was a cover up. He relaxed his features and gently asked, "Why hide it at all Angie?"

"Do you really have to ask that?"

Sam heard the tone. It was the one that was used to remind him and Dean how they were the same way. She never missed a beat when it came to actually knowing them. Her response was that it should have been obvious; she thought she could handle it. Plus Sam knew she didn't like to be babied though it seemed to slip her mind about Darby. "Okay fine but why feel the need to sneak pain pills? We wouldn't have said anything."

"Seriously?" Angela raised her brow at that.

"Okay maybe we would have said something…"

"And it would have been when I was blind all over again," Angela finished. "I know my limits Sam and I was doing fine until what happened earlier. Demons and injuries… not a good bedfellows." She shifted and finally took a sip of her tea.

That was a mystery solved somewhat in Sam's opinion. "Okay but Angie it's okay to mention if you're hurt. You know that right?"

"And I've said it before, old habits die hard," Angela replied softly. The real reason was that aside from the fact she thought she could tough it out on her own was the fact that she was shy about Sam touching her. Granted he had touched her before like her hands and her face but where her bruises were and then when she got sliced on her back… that was different.

She remembered what it felt like when he touched her shoulder and traced her tattoo. Then when he pinned her after she saw Dean alive and well… it was a feeling she liked but it was like being confronted with the whole idea and her discovery of the depth of her feelings for Sam. That's what made his touch different from others. If it were Dean, she wouldn't have a problem and she did admit to Sam once that she had seen enough male docs in her day.

She was astute enough to recognize that feeling of fear she felt when first confronted by her feelings. What she intended to do about it, she wanted to play it smarter. She sensed another conversation with Dean coming up but somehow she didn't quite feel that was going to cut it in this case. Seeing that Sam was giving her that look he would shoot her way, she added, "I can handle it. I just get a little private with certain types of injuries."

Sam got the hint and actually turned a shade of red. "Sorry. Um… I'll go." He got up and put his tea on the table, having not even taken a sip.

Angela raised her brow and frowned slightly at Sam's reaction until it occurred to her how she mentioned it. She was tempted to laugh but the vicodin already had her relaxed and she didn't want to aggravate them anymore. Instead she said, "Wait, Sam."

Sam almost didn't hear her. He was so concerned that it was something serious that he didn't think as to how she would view it. He did stop and turned back.

_At least he stopped._ Angela blinked slowly and gave a slight smile, "Lesson learned right?"

Sam gave a tentative smile. "Yeah."

"It's okay. Sit."

"I should go."

"You didn't finish your tea."

He was doomed when he caught the slight pleading look on her face. Sighing he took back his seat and took the cup that had been warming his hands and took a small sip. He hoped that was enough.

"That's better."

He couldn't help but chuckle. "You did that on purpose."

"When did you guess?"

* * *

**A/N:** Patch up job and more Sam and Angie moments. Stay tuned for more on The Failed Demon...


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_It should have worked. It was planned perfectly. Hit the target and let them fall._ _Damn dhampir had to use their powers._

Katherine took a look at herself in the mirror of the digs she was hiding in. She really wasn't that bad off except for a couple of bruises to her meat. Then there was the sore spot to the back. The damned dhampir had to use their powers and when did that dhampir have _that _ability? It was supposed to be one that could manipulate water.

"You've looked better."

Katherine turned to see an old friend… well sort of… standing behind her. She said, "So have you Cary."

Cary gave a slight shrug of his shoulders in an 'oh well' gesture. He studied his fellow demon with a nonchalant look aware that while he took a perverse pleasure in the misery of his fellow demons, the news he was about to deliver was not something he would wish on anyone. Well maybe there were a few that he would wish it on but still what he had was the sort of thing that made Absolution more like a saint considering her methods.

Cary knew that he would end up in the doghouse with her and that was if she ever found out what he did five months ago at the behest of that stinking vampire. Well actually he had been bound to do his bidding and that was pretty much to take them to that infernal place and that was that. How that happened he still didn't have a clue and wondered if the boss ratted him out or something. That would certainly have worked and would have been the most obvious.

Looking at Katherine he made a slight face and then said, "So how was your assignment? Did you get your man?"

It was rhetorical and he knew that she didn't. The things he knew about her and her tendencies… it was enough to fill a book and could be considered amusing. He played with the slip of paper that was in his coat pocket. That had his orders from higher up the food chain. Why they felt he was better suited to play messenger boy was beyond him. He was the best out of what he did and that was dealing in information.

"I did my job but it was a bust," Katherine admitted as she straightened her clothing out.

"You know that was rhetorical. Even I knew you were going to fuck this one up like everything else," Cary replied as he took a couple of steps forward.

"Hey I planned it perfectly. How was I supposed to know that the stupid dhampir had that kind of power? It was supposed to be a water manipulating one," Katherine replied in a pouting tone of voice as she tossed her reddish blonde hair. She began pacing thinking how best to fix this.

Cary raised a brow at her. _You got the wrong dhampir Katie. I'm surprised she didn't smite your ass._ "I highly doubt that you got the right one."

"I did so," Katherine retorted. She pulled out the scrap of paper that had the details on it. "See? Dhampir with dark hair. Last seen in Missouri."

Cary sighed and peered at the scrap. Again she got it wrong. He pointed at it, "Not Missouri, it's Miami."

"Missouri, Miami, same difference. The point is that I got a dhampir in my sights with dark hair and she had a friend. Nice and tall with shaggy hair."

_Oh boy so you got stick up his ass in your sights too. That is just perfect._ Cary knew now that there was going to be an interesting discussion where he was to direct Katherine. Why couldn't the bloody demon do something right for a change?

Katherine was the worst demon imaginable. She made a deal long ago and it came due. She became a demon but everyone downstairs was thinking that it was a big mistake. Give the girl an order, even a simple one and she botched it up good. It was a miracle (pun intended) that she was still alive considering the trouble she caused by alerting hunters and the like.

The fact that Katherine started messing with a dhampir he knew well, that was going to spell trouble and if he got the memo right… Queen bitch wasn't going to be happy. He looked at Katherine who appeared thoughtful as she described stick up his ass. At least the shorty wasn't mentioned otherwise there would be more trouble. Well there was trouble anyway since he knew Shorty didn't like anyone messing with the not so little brother. "Katie, you…"

"I did what I was supposed to. What to do to make things right?" Katherine was musing to herself and completely ignored Cary. "Maybe a pit wasn't a great idea." She continued to pace around in thought.

Cary hated to do this and fished the official summons out. He looked at Katherine and then down at the ground. Slowly he said, "Katie, sorry to have to do this but…" He held out the summons towards her once he had her attention. "You have been summoned. You are to report to HR."

Katherine took the summons and looked at it. "Oh so they want to summon me? How delightful."

Cary raised a brow at that. The tone of voice was not one of dread but… cheery and happy? He knew that Katherine was not like other demons but this was a little weird even for him. A summons to HR was not something to be happy about. He wondered if they went overboard in that corner of the pit and scrambled her brains completely. It would certainly explain a few things. He replied, "You get that you're being summoned to HR right?"

"Yes I do Cary. It'll be nice to actually see the boss face to face instead of through memos. I mean he summons you directly when he has you do special jobs." Katherine was positively beaming as she held the summons. "Oh and it had been signed by the boss himself! I definitely got to frame this."

Cary thought he was going to puke. It seemed that a few decades dissolved any hope of Katherine becoming a dealing devil. She couldn't even do an execution job right. He put a hand to his forehead to try and stave off the headache that was surely going to pop up in a moment. He gave a slight sigh. He might as well indulge her a little since it wasn't clicking that the summons to HR was not a good thing. He replied, "Don't do that yet. You need it to gain access, remember?"

"Oh yes. Cary do you think the boss will want my reports on the deals for the quarter?"

A dumb question but Cary indulged, "Sure. Why not? I'm sure he'll be most interested in that one case file regarding the baby elephant." _As opposed to raised stock worth of a company that made cellophane._ He wondered what the hell went through her mind when she drew up the deals. Sure they were a source of entertainment by the water cooler but this was bad for business.

"I'm sure he will. That one I know I did right," Katherine was beaming as she went over to the file cabinet that held all her case files, which weren't many.

One thing Cary could say about Katherine was that she was organized and she knew how to prepare a report. It was why he couldn't understand why she couldn't do a simple deal. If it were possible she would get a guy a bitch instead of getting him rich… and he didn't mean a bitch in terms of hookers but more along the lines of the four legged variety. Oh and then the attempts to correct a deal… that made things ten times worse if she decided to amend the deal.

The only one good thing he could say about her deals was that she was polite in the demon way. It was sort of like how Lilith dealt with her clients and plans; that playful little girl demeanor. That made the suckers she dealt with pliable and at least she sealed them properly. The poor saps went to the pit when their deal was due. So maybe there was some good in her deals except that it did make a lot of work for custodial services and facilities management.

"Cary, standard presentation is based on priority right?"

"Um yeah," Cary replied a little bit uncomfortable at how this conversation was going. He did reports but because most of the high priorities were more off the books since they came directly from the boss and bypassed a lot of red tape. It was a necessity since there were things that would piss upper management off. Well he already did.

Katherine ignored Cary's internal monologue as she prepared her report for the boss. It had been a while since she had submitted to Marge, as the collector was called. She thought about that old broad and wondered if time had softened her mood a little. She seriously thought that the elderly demon could use a little fun in her life and maybe she wouldn't be so cranky about dealers filing the wrong forms and the like. That didn't matter since she was going to see the boss.

Cary watched as Katherine spruced herself up and put all her paperwork in the attaché case that she carried all important paperwork in. He knew that it was special in that anyone other than Katherine tried to open it, the usually ended up missing a limb or two or even maybe their life. Another thing that she got right when it came to protecting her things and it was pretty good. He cleared his throat and said, "Um if you don't need anything else, I gotta go. You know I got a job to do too."

Katherine looked up at Cary and put on her pouting face, "You're not coming Cary? You can file your paperwork too at the same time. Maybe the boss will want to talk to you too."

Cary inwardly groaned. She really didn't get that the summons was for her alone. She was supposed to go and get whatever the boss wanted to dish out. The worst punishment would be being sent to the grand master of torture with a razor blade. He had things that made holy water feel like a bath and Cary shuddered to think about what else he had. The only good thing he could say was that the grand master turned out some pretty good demons afterwards.

He saw that Katherine was looking at him and was ready to go. He probably was going to regret this but maybe he could try appeasement. Otherwise that look was going to bug him all day. He sighed, "I can accompany you as far as the level but after that I have to book. Some things can't wait you know."

Katherine squealed and gave Cary a hug. Cary felt like he was being smothered in all that was good like puppies and crap like that. He tolerated Katherine but this was too much. "Oh Cary. You're the only one that understands me."

_Where did that come from?_ Cary made a slight face as he broke the embrace that Katherine was hell bent on trying to keep for another three seconds. Maybe this was his punishment for the events that happened four/five months ago. The sweetheart probably complained to upper management or something. Why was it that he always got stuck with Katie duty? "Um okay. Katie… can you let me go now?"

Katherine jumped back and said, "Sorry Cary. You're the only one who knows that I'm not like the others but I do what I can. You know I'm trying."

_Another heart wrenching moment and all I have is a little black heart. Too many times spent with the boss' sweetheart._ Cary resisted the inward groan that threatened to bubble out. This was really too much. "Yeah… I guess." This was like being on one of those stupid chick flick shows or soap operas. It was torture.

Katherine beamed at Cary as she went to pick up her case. "Okay. I'm ready."

"Your summons," Cary countered as he pointed at the summons that was lying on the table. _Please let this be over with the moment we get to that floor._

"Oh silly me," Katherine replied as she reached over and grabbed the summons. Straightening her shoulders, she looked at Cary and beamed at him. "Okay, now I'm ready."

Cary stifled the sigh that threatened. He seriously was going to get it with this one. It was no secret that he was the one that pretty much stood up for Katherine though he didn't have a clue as to why. It was utterly ridiculous since he was considered a bit of a badass even though he grudgingly admitted, to himself, that he was a bit of a weenie when it came to the companion of stick up his ass and Shorty. "Here we go," he muttered as he did his thing. _Accompanying on Katie duty to HR. What a way to spend a day._

* * *

"Please tell me you're going to do something about it."

Crowley put a hand to his forehead as he listened to queen bitch gripe once more on the latest escapade. Well not the latest one he heard about but the one involving the location of a particular seal. This was getting to be a weekly occurrence for him though it probably seemed like a daily thing topside… maybe hourly. He could never figure out the formula on smaller scales. Years and months were the easiest.

The escapade involved one of his lower level employees whom he was sure was the lady highness' way of punishing him for some wrong he hadn't even gotten in trouble with yet. At least she didn't find out that it was he who stole her altar cloth though he was certain that she figured out that his sweetheart had it.

Absolution.

Absolution was his sweetheart still even though he hadn't been by to see her. More likely she would try to shoot him with that Beretta of hers. Or worse, she would stick him with her bloody sword. She would probably blame him for what that vampire did to her since she was more inclined to kill a demon first than a vampire. Then again she might use her newest acquisition in her mojo.

Unlike those beneath him, Crowley had access to something more substantial than the water cooler discussions that went on. Of course it paid to have someone who had an in with his target like Cary. That little worm was just as suckered as he was when it came to her. Crowley felt his features twist into an ugly grimace as he recalled how easily he agreed to her requests… well that was after she threatened him with iron bullets. Not that he didn't like it. It was almost sexy.

"Crowley I am asking you: what do you intend to do about the biggest screw up in your department?"

Crowley looked at Lilith as she stood opposite the lavish office desk that he had. His office was one of the places from which he ran his empire of crossroad deals. It was topside but he was effective in dealing out territories and assignments. He knew perfectly well who Lilith was talking about but like other demons, he preferred to delay things a little; push buttons so to speak. "I see you upgraded from a little girl to a little girl in a woman's body."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Lilith countered as she looked at the coolly collected demon sitting behind the desk. "That worm you have working for you screwed up a very important job."

"And whose fault is that princess? You were the one that decided she should be stuck with my division," Crowley countered. He had put his elbows on his desk and put his hands together. He pointed at Lilith to emphasize his point. "I've had to put up with her and try to find something she could do without screwing the operation."

"And I thought she improved on that," Lilith countered not liking the fact that Crowley was putting it back on her. What he did say was true though about her requesting the transfer the subject of their discussion. "I needed someone who could get things done."

"You requested her out of the goodness of your heart," Crowley replied in a mocking tone. It wasn't his fault that Lilith requested that employee. He got the impression that she did that on purpose just so she would have an excuse to yell at him. "I warned you there was a reason why I put her on the puppy patrol as that particular division is called. She has a way of keeping things professional while reeling in the poor sods."

"But she is the best!" Lilith's voice became shrill. "She should have been able to locate one seal."

Crowley made an amused face. He pulled up the file on that escapade. He looked through it, pretending to be a diligent worker. He didn't need to look but it certainly was fun to make queen bitch squirm a little. He was the king of the crossroads and hence the CEO of crossroad deals so he pretty much knew everything that was important.

Making a few hums and scanning movements with his eyes, Crowley finally flipped the file open to what he had ready to go. He read it and replied, "Well, she did locate a seal and a very talented one at best. I heard it can balance a ball on its nose while clapping its fins." He closed the file and looked up at Lilith and added, "So I really don't see what the problem is. She did do what you asked for."

"Don't be an idiot Crowley," Lilith snapped. She knew that the demon wasn't fazed by her in the least. Well at least that which she couldn't see and that was what made him a good right hand man though she was suspicious of his dealings that were off the books. "You know as well as I that I didn't mean _that _kind of seal. I thought the quarterlies were the genuine article stating that she has more than fulfilled her quota within that division. Please tell me that she had at least one good deal go through. Please Crowley."

Crowley didn't change his expression. He studied Lilith for a moment before replying, "The quarterlies weren't lying. She has more than fulfilled her quotas for making deals. The fact that they weren't exactly what the customer wanted is a moot point since we got them and the results are quite satisfying. Plus it is interesting entertainment; plenty of discussion around the water cooler."

Lilith nearly growled at that. She didn't want entertainment. She wanted someone who would know how to do the job they were assigned without messing it up. It had been advised that she go to the crossroads department and recruit someone from there since she just lost one to one of those damnable hunters.

It wasn't just any hunter though. It was none other than the one called Absolution. Not too long ago the little pretty took down one of her best. Lilith tried not to sigh at the thought that she no longer had Jade to fill her in on the things going on.

Jade had been one of the most loyal of her cohort. Even when she was trapped within the pit, Jade kept things interesting. She was the one that came up with the gladiatorial bouts and while Lilith preferred children, the bloodshed from those events satiated her palate. Jade also provided info on what the other side was up to ever since she got Dean where she wanted him and when Absolution disappeared.

It had been a surprise to hear that Absolution popped up on the grid again. It was a surprise but also a delight. The word came when the groupies in Pontiac spotted her with Dean. Of course it was nothing when the report came in that Dean had been yanked out of the pit but to hear that Absolution was back from the dead… Lilith had to see for herself and when Jade contacted her, it was a surprise of a lifetime.

Absolution had been caught by Jade and in one of Jade's bigger rackets. Lilith of course was interested in how Absolution fared all those months she was considered dead. It certainly was entertaining to see Absolution in action against the lizard head freak and it was certainly something to see how Absolution was able to inspire such loyalty to escape. In the end though, she took out two of the top demons of that racket.

Radomski was like the others. He was replaceable since his pay grade was a dime a dozen. The decapitation was something but what Absolution did to Jade… Lilith was worried. From what she had heard of Absolution, she didn't do things like that. The talent was something that she would expect from one of Azazel's kid if he was still at the wheel with that project. Yet it was different and she felt it when she went by after the Centurion left along with one of her specialists.

Jade had not only been extracted but she had been destroyed and from the looks of things, by fire. So now Lilith was left with no one competent enough to locate the seals needed to set Lucifer free. There were 600 possible and only 66 to break. The first had been broken easily and she had to hand it to the master architect in the pit. So now she was here and she was finding out that the one she was after was one that she had shunted to Crowley. "So you are serious?"

Crowley looked at Lilith, "Look love, crossroad deals have their rules. The thing with head of the puppy division is that she knows the rules and follows them. The details tend to get a little murky. In the end, she gets us souls for the pit. It's a win-win."

"But this last one… Is she muddled in the brain?"

"Not my department. She passed from me after she made a deal and it came due," Crowley countered. "You should talk to the head man down there."

"She's in your department now so you can tell me."

"Sorry Lilith. You know the rules. Personnel files are under the dragon's purview," Crowley replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders. It was really out of his hands with the specific details. "You want to know the full psych report you got to her."

Lilith sighed. "You really are going to follow the rules on this one?"

"Hey I always follow protocol. Red tape can be such a bitch. Azazel said the same thing when it came to his business."

"And what about the other things?"

"Don't go there Lilith because I think you'll find that there are things that are not out of place." Crowley gave a grin at Lilith. "Like my puppy division head, I'm very complete with the paperwork. Even the dragon can't complain about it and it's not her division."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Lilith looked ready to smash everything in the office. She really wasn't in the mood for this.

"You requested her though I suppose I could put her back on collection duty. The hell puppies like her and they still do their job. It was relatively easy but not half as entertaining as the puppy division," Crowley replied. After studying Lilith for some time, he relented. "Look I sent a summons. The last one she really botched up and there was a new incident."

"An HR summons?"

"Is there any other kind?" Crowley looked at Lilith that said he wasn't an idiot and he knew the score.

"So are you really going to transfer her to me?"

Crowley was about to think about it when the intercom went off, "Sir, the summons is here along with the server."

Crowley growled a little. Cary was a bit of a softie with the prime entertainment. Then again Cary was pretty good with things like this. "Well if you'd like you can witness the entire thing and maybe you might figure out how to get her on your good side."

"Sit in on an HR summons?"

"HR can invite anyone and I invite you," Crowley replied as he stood up and went to pour a drink. "We'll let them sweat a little."

* * *

**A/N:** And in comes Katherine who seems to know what she's doing but not really and Cary feels bad about HR summons. Stay tuned for more on The Failed Demon...


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Katherine paced outside the doors of the HR office. Even though she had been summoned, she was determined to make the best of it. She did after all file her reports in on time. She looked at Cary and asked, "Do you think that they will have something to say about the dip in numbers this quarter?"

Cary shuffled uncertainly. He was supposed to escort her to the level and then he was going to take off. Once there though, Katherine asked him to stay. Well she started talking and was compelled to stay. It didn't matter that he had other things to do and he found that he couldn't be rude and just leave.

Leaning against the wall, Cary looked around. The HR summons room was a scary place to be especially if you were summoned for something you screwed up. His summons to this room though was more along the lines of the special reports that were off the books but were all done with official paperwork. You just had to know where to look. He replied absently, "You always turn in your reports on time Katie."

"I know I do but I'm talking about my numbers in my division. I'm still making quota but not as much as previously," Katherine replied with a slight worried expression on her face.

"Don't worry about the excess of quota. As long as you make the numbers, you're okay. It's when you start going below it is something to worry about," Cary replied as he looked around.

The boss' secretary was looking at him like he was scum underneath her shoes. Well she could stick it even if his pay grade was lower than the average sales rep. It may be the lowest in the history of any business but what he got out of it was worth more than a bonus at Christmas and all that hoopla. Part of it had to do with the fact that he ran into Absolution.

The first time that he met Absolution was when he was working a job. He was dealing in information regarding… he didn't remember what but he was dealing in important info on the other side. His contact was paying heavily for it. He was at the location and on time. The client was very adamant about that.

Timing was one of her quirks when it came to meetings. He thought she was just another thing out there that needed something for a job. He didn't care one way or another. It was another story when she trapped him and demanded everything from him. His fee for that was that he got to live another day. That was her currency. Life for info and that seemed to be agreeable and in the end he became her stoolie and he still supplied her info. He even kept what he knew about her. The boss knew things but not the whole picture; the kind of things that don't make it into the reports.

"I did away with the scented reports since the boss said he was running a business and not a pretty puppy parlor, whatever that means. You think that will work?"

Cary hadn't been paying too much attention to Katherine's babble but he caught enough to get the gist of the conversation. In his mind she should be worried about being sent to the pit and being put under the knife. He had seen a few of his pay grade and the usual sales reps that came here and didn't come back. He looked around and replied, "Getting rid of the kittens was the best thing. Cute stuff like that just annoys."

"I noticed that when the corrections came back," Katherine replied. She checked her bag. "Hmm, ten minutes late. Will that be bad?"

"We were here on time," Cary replied in an exasperated tone. They were trying to make her sweat and of course she was not taking it the way it was intended. Then again she never took anything the way she was supposed to. "It's all a matter of reviewing the files."

"HR will see you now Cary."

Cary turned a wry look towards the secretary. Why would they want to see him? He did what he was supposed to do. He brought Katherine the summons. He did what the boss asked him to do unless the boss intended for this. That would be typical of the boss.

"Oh it looks like HR wants to commend you too Cary," Katherine's voice piped up.

Cary ignored the glare from the secretary and the eye roll sent in the direction of Katherine. He hid the exasperated sigh that threatened and walked towards the door leading into the office. He didn't look at Katherine who was beaming at him like he won the pools or something like that. What did he do to land this detail?

Opening the door he slowly walked in feeling that familiar sense of dread. When he knew what the summons was he was a little more relaxed. That didn't mean that HR wouldn't spring a surprise on him. That was always a possibility and with the boss, that was definitely a possibility especially if upper management was saying something. He saw the boss at his desk and said, "You wanted to see me?"

Crowley looked at Cary as he entered. He loved HR summons. They made his day especially when the underlings squirmed for things they had no clue they did wrong and sometimes it was just to create entertainment. He certainly had fun with the sales reps. Cary's branch was a little harder since they knew they were valuable in this business.

Cary wasn't supposed to be summoned. He was just to deliver the summons to the little minx but he knew Cary well. Then again Crowley couldn't really talk since he had a thing for the one being that really could stick it to Lilith. His little sweetheart was really back and from what he heard, she really made a nice show with what she did to Jade. That he found out from a few of Jade's underlings.

Crowley knew Cary had a bit of a soft spot for Katherine. He saw her as he did: a source of entertainment. So what if she didn't quite get her assignments correct? The important thing was that she got souls for the pit. She did her job as far as he was concerned. It was just a matter of customer satisfaction, which didn't matter anyway since they were doomed in the usual ten years though he was impressed with one she got for two years.

Crowley looked at Cary and motioned him to stand in front of the desk. It was usually the same when they discussed the special projects that were written elsewhere on the reports that were filed in the archives. He said, "I sent you to present a summons. I assume that you've done it?"

It was rhetorical in nature but Cary knew that he couldn't mouth off to Crowley. He replied, "I delivered the summons."

"Then why are you here?"

Cary dreaded that question. It was pointless to lie but he didn't want to come off as a total wimp because he did have a soft spot for Katherine. Plus he didn't know if the conversation was to be recorded for posterity so he couldn't bullshit but he couldn't be honest either. He looked behind Crowley at the wall before looking at the boss and replied, "Puppy division is one step above mine and it's always fun to watch upper divisions get a talking to."

It was weak but perfectly acceptable for upper management. Crowley gave a nod of approval. "Well it's always a big thing for your division since you are lower than dogs."

"Yes sir," Cary replied, feeling that he was back in one gig where he was wearing a petty officer's meat on a ship in the middle of a freaking ocean. Then again one didn't mess with Crowley if he was in the mood. You were just asking for trouble with that one. He looked at Crowley but avoided the eyes hoping that it was acceptable.

"Then I guess it wouldn't be a problem for you to fill in on the subject of interest to someone interested in the summons," Crowley threw out. He looked at Cary with a look that almost dared him to say otherwise.

Cary made a slight shuffle of his feet. "What is it that you would like to know?"

"Don't play coy Cary. I know that you've worked with her before. Maybe not willingly but you know her," Crowley replied.

"Puppy division is smaller than mine. Everyone knows everyone." Cary gave a shrug as if it were no big deal.

"Oh I can agree and productivity in that division is surprisingly good but not as good as yours," Crowley replied. He loved messing with Cary because the worm had to juggle between the truth and the half-truths and the downright lies that were part of the game.

"Puppy division has its… own set of standards," Cary allowed. He looked at the boss not sure of where this was going. "Is there a reason why I'm being asked when I'm sure the viper in evaluations has a stronghold on all evals of all departments?"

"Oh cut to the chase Crowley and ask him straight out," Lilith replied as she stepped out of her hiding place in the shadows. She had watched the exchange and something clicked. She always figured that there was something going on between the little worm and her right hand man. Then again that was what made Crowley her right hand man. He had access to places that upper management wouldn't consider unless it was off the books.

Cary stiffened slightly. He had never gotten over the fact that Lilith had tortured him for information about Absolution. Well her pet bitch Tiamat did for a while as well as that asshat with the hoodie. Lilith was another story and she was not as nice as Tiamat. He kept his stance though and looked at her. "Lilith, it's a surprise that you came to visit HR."

Lilith looked at Cary and noticed that he was being very stiff. No doubt he remembered his little sessions with her and Tiamat. "No need to be so stiff with me Cary. You should be honored to be in my presence. Not many of your division get the chance."

"I'm sure they don't," Cary replied in a slight deadpanned manner. If Lilith was around, that meant she was up to something and judging by the boss' expression, he knew what it was. What it had to do with Katherine was something that was probably above his pay grade but considering that he was sharing company, he might as well make the most of it. "So what do I owe the pleasure?"

Lilith shot Cary a look that he was to watch it. Crowley may be his boss but she was with upper management. She could make Cary's life a living hell if she wanted to. She smiled and replied, "You know what has happened and the work that must be done Cary. I must say that you played your role well in regards to a certain player that I know our father would be pleased about."

"If you mean letting that vampire Faisal bind me to do his bidding for a time, I don't think that to be a compliment," Cary replied.

"Why not? You should be used to being someone else's bitch," Lilith shot back.

"And we're all hell's bitches." Cary raised his arms as if to challenge Lilith to do something right in the middle of HR. He turned his attention towards Crowley and said, "I gave the summons and escorted her here. What more is expected?"

Cary could have sounded petulant about the whole thing but he wasn't going to give Lilith the satisfaction of having one up on him. Crowley was impressed himself since he had seen Cary fold like a little princess. He looked at Cary and replied, "It should be obvious. You know better the employee we have summoned and have connections who hear things. The reports say she has been doing fairly good with the puppy division."

"And yet the actual results are dismal," Lilith threw out. "I asked for the location of a seal and I get a bloody circus animal."

Had it been anyone else, Cary would have burst out laughing. That was so like Katherine. Like Crowley he could say that she had gotten what was asked for since it was what it was. Of course any demon with common sense knew what Lilith meant in regards to the seals. It only affirmed in his mind that Katherine was not a typical demon and maybe something did happen when she was with the grand master of torture. Of course the dragon of personnel wouldn't say anything unless she had the writ of authorization and all that good stuff. She was a stickler for the paperwork since there have been complaints to HR to get her transferred at least once a month. He looked at the pair and raised his brow, "Are you asking me my opinion about personnel?"

"What did you think we were asking you about?" Lilith snapped at Cary, clearly aware that being coy wasn't going to cut it. Now she was certain that Cary was going to mess with her like Crowley was and probably for the sheer entertainment.

Cary still had a raised brow that turned into a frown as he replied, "Isn't that under personnel's purview? The dragon lady everyone is sure is upper management's long lost sister?"

"Exactly what I've been trying to tell you love," Crowley interjected. Cary didn't even have to try. He was totally clueless about this whole argument and was confused by it. At least it would help with a nice little set up. "Personnel has the case reviews of all our employees. If you want to find out more than what the quarterlies have to say… take it up with Danielle."

Lilith cringed inwardly at the thought. When Danielle had been assigned Personnel, she took over and ruled with an iron fist. She insisted everything be filed accordingly and on time. No exceptions were made in expediting orders or requests. It was all taken in the order it was received and was merciless with the delays if one part of the paperwork was missing. Lilith could admit though that the dragon was efficient especially when she prepared the personnel reports.

Looking at Crowley she said, "I really want to know what makes this thing tick. Businesswise it is all good since there are more souls for the pit but the actual results…? I'm half tempted to send her back to the grand master and put an end to this."

"If you do that, who is going to run the puppy division?" Crowley looked at Lilith as if daring her to come up with a solution.

"You made it up. There is no such thing…"

"The division was created when the CEO of crossroads recognized a potential in gaining souls through charm that the regular sales reps don't bother with. It fools the saps completely and they more likely make a deal," Crowley pointing out using the company jargon in order to make it sound all official regarding puppy division. "The CEO believes in utilizing talents to the fullest and puppy division has a certain talent."

"Don't use your corporate jargon on me Crowley," Lilith warned.

"I'm simply laying it out to you like it is," Crowley replied in a nonplussed way. He was used to handling Lilith and it didn't faze him in the least. "We run a business and Katherine has talents that could prove to come in handy. If anything else, the things she comes up with certainly are worth the mishaps for a chance in entertainment."

"I am not looking for entertainment. I am looking for a fairly good replacement for Jade," Lilith spat out.

"Oh yes, the bloodthirsty one of your cohort. Tis a shame really to find that she met her demise and during one of her operations as well," Crowley replied as he mocked his sorry at hearing the demise of Jade. "From what I hear the Centurions were involved."

"Don't bullshit around Crowley," Lilith countered, "You know as well as I and probably half of the company knows that Absolution was behind it. How she did it there are rumors circling about and the most likely it that she's drinking demon blood."

"That's not possible since she has an annoying health fetish and that precludes drinking tainted blood," Crowley replied. He was making it up but didn't know how right he was in that regards. "Besides if you want someone to find things, Katherine is a good choice and given her talent, no one would be all the wiser."

"Sure and if I ask for the Rose of Tralee, she'll bring me the actual song," Lilith shot in a fit od sarcasm.

Cary listened to the discussion. So this was more about a transfer. Katherine's quotas for souls got Lilith's attention but the physical results were the stopping point. That meant that Lilith might get it into her head to kill Katherine. In reality the demon may not be like the sales reps and the minions but she did get the job done… in a weird sort of way. He offered, "There are ways to make sure that she gets what you want."

"Really? And what do you know about it?" Lilith gave a sneer towards Cary. How was it that a worm knew how to work the worse demon that was in a division all by herself?

Cary looked at Crowley and replied, "It's simple. You make it simple." He saw the look that Lilith shot him and saw that she wasn't convinced. He explained, "I was on a job once that required me to lift a few items of interest. My usual ways weren't going to work so… I went to puppy division. Katherine played virtually the cute dumb blonde and managed to lift what I needed and then some."

"And how is it that it wasn't a screw up?"

"I showed her pictures of what I needed." Cary frowned a little as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. "She has a different mindset and if you make it simple and show her exactly what you need, no problem."

Lilith stared at Cary for a full three minutes before saying, "So you're telling me that the failed demon in the so called puppy division can be molded into a demon?"

"Like I said, you just have to show her what you want and she'll deliver. It may not be a perfectly executed op but it works out in the end." Cary gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. His story was a true one and that was probably the reason why Katherine said that he was the only one who got her. Certainly a few of her assignments, he clarified them for her and those went off without a hitch. So he hoped that this would soften Lilith's wrath.

Crowley looked smugly at Lilith. He knew that she hated recruiting from his ranks but most of the minions in general were more about brute strength and enforcement. Some were good at the manipulation but the crossroad deals sector had the best. It was probably the most funny in that puppy division was doing so well but he was going to take what he could get in this. "So, are there any further complaints?"

Lilith mused silently for a moment. She then nodded, "Fine bring her in. I want to ask her a few questions."

Crowley gave a nod to Cary who went to call in Katherine. She looked at him a bit worried that she was late. He gave a slight smile and motioned her in. He prayed (tongue in cheek of course) that anything that came out of Katherine's mouth wouldn't be something that would cause Lilith to decide that she was better off being puppy chow.

Ignoring the scowl that the secretary was giving him, the old bat, Cary motioned at Katherine saying, "Katie."

Cary felt like he was leading a lamb to a slaughter. Normally he would take pleasure in doing such a thing. He even imagined it being Crowley's old bat of a secretary yet he couldn't and wouldn't wish a personal execution on Katherine. Sure he joked about her being a failed demon but he was quick to point out that she was good at what she did and she was certainly a better filer of her reports. The old dragon in Archives, Danielle's twin sister Donna certainly sent a happy memo on occasion to Katherine. _What do I do to get myself into these situations?_

It was a question to be unanswered as he led Katherine to stand in front of Crowley's desk. Lilith was on the chair beside it and looking at the 'failed demon' and probably thinking of ways to make the poor girl cry. That would be a first since no demon ever cried… at least anyone within earshot. He said, "Here is um… Katherine."

Katherine plunged right in, "Hello Mr. Crowley, I have the reports from the last three cases worked on." She fished them out of her briefcase and handed them over. "All deals were closed and customers were made aware that there was a no refund policy."

Crowley gave a slight side look at Lilith as he accepted the reports. He did a brief skim. Three more saps nailed into their coffins and they were five year plans. That was impressive. Most plans were the ten year variety. Then again you can never underestimate the power of a true little girl demeanor. "Nice work. I see the puppy division still has the highest quota."

"I'm so pleased, sir," Katherine beamed. She didn't notice Lilith until she happened to glance in her direction. "Oh, Miss Lilith. It's a pleasure to see you hear down at Crossroads. I trust being in upper management is going well?"

Lilith looked embarrassed at being called out. She really didn't like the go-happy attitude from this demon. Even she was starting to wonder what happened in that corner of the pit to make her like this. She replied, "Everything is fine." She shot a look at Crowley.

Crowley was enjoying this and cleared his throat. "Katie, darling, there is a reason why you were summoned. You see someone has been paying attention to the quarterlies and they are impressed with your work."

"I aim to please, sir," Katherine replied beaming.

Cary felt like this was going to go bad really fast. He kept a straight face as he cued his phone to vibrate if something happened. There was no need to have unwanted noise bring more attention than necessary.

"I do apologize for the last case. I know I was supposed to go after a dhampir with water abilities in Missouri but I think surveillance made a mistake," Katherine was saying.

_Oh boy here we go_, Cary thought to himself. If he knew about it that meant Crowley did since he did have a few 'interns' in surveillance.

"How do you figure?" Crowley was being attentive even though he knew what the demon was going to say.

"Well the dhampir had a powerful punch and was tall in size and oh, a pair of tawny eyes," Katherine replied. "She did a rather aggressive way of defending the human that was with her."

Lilith realized that Katherine had tangled with Absolution and that meant with one of the Winchesters. It was probably the worst thing ever since that would probably have Absolution sniffing around. She was close to finding a seal and because this idiot messed up a vital order… She growled, "You idiot. You were supposed to be in Miami, not Missouri." She put a hand to her head. "Now you brought Absolution's attention on us."

"I'm sorry Miss Lilith but I was sure…"

"Surveillance said Miami and now that dhampir, a potential asset is lost and Absolution will be poking her nose for the seal," Lilith grumbled as she started pacing. "I really should have reconsidered before shunting you here."

"Come off it Lilith," Crowley began. "Katie here has done good work."

"Not enough Crowley. Now that Absolution has been activated by those angel bastards…"

"I can fix this if you want," Katherine piped up.

"Oh shut up."

Cary knew that he was going to risk getting his head bitten off but he couldn't let Katherine suffer. She had a sort of fragile ego. The idea he had might put him in the doghouse on both sides he was working but… "Excuse me but maybe this could work."

Lilith wasn't in the mood for the worm but he seemed to provide an answer, "No games Cary. What do you have in mind?"

Cary looked at Katherine and gave a slight nod. "Well, it occurs to me that Absolution needs something to distract her from finding out about the seal. So why not distract her using Katie?"

"How?"

"Go after the Winchesters."

* * *

**A/N:** Lilith meets Katherine and the WTF moments begin. Then Cary comes up with a 'brilliant' idea. Stay tuned for more on The Failed Demon...


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The first thing Sam noticed was that he was in a very similar situation from the West Point case. He was awake in bed but it wasn't his bed but someone else's. He sat up quickly, forgetting his shoulder until the soreness stabbed him. He rubbed his shoulder as he looked around the room vaguely remembering that they had been talking and…

Sam rubbed his face and looked around in confusion as the vestiges of sleep went away. It had been a peaceful night's rest; one of the few that he had ever since he got back on the road with Dean. Looking around, the room was fairly organized to the point that it made his tendency to be neat look like Dean's system on its best day. In fact it looked like the room hadn't been occupied at all, which was strange because the night before he saw stuff opened and over the place.

He got out of bed and started looking around. The pot of coffee was made but nothing else. In fact he didn't see her duffle that had her clothes but her medic bag was there and her side bag that held stuff Dean dubbed the spyware was missing. It sent him into a silent panic that what happened over the summer caught up to her again and he started looking around. He pulled open the door to the room after putting on his shoes and started looking around. He was aware that he looked like he was going out for a jog since he was in sweats and a t-shirt but it was better than going out in boxers and that thought was embarrassing.

Sam had a little idea of where to look but because her duffle was missing, it could be that she took off. That sounded ridiculous though because she would have left a note and not a hot pot of coffee. That was just plain ridiculous. He started looking around, not wanting to shout and wake up Dean. It wasn't until he was wandering near where they had been walking that he called, "Angie?"

There was a slight sound and Sam turned around to see if anyone was behind him. He cursed himself for not bringing a weapon and also for giving away his position. Rookie mistakes all over again and it was because he panicked.

He heard a noise again coming in the direction of where he had been hit and started walking slowly over. He stooped to pick up a stick and carried it, ready to use it as a weapon. His throat convulsed as he neared where the pit was. It was then that he heard, "Sam?"

Sam frowned as he lowered his club and walked towards the hole in the ground. He slowed as he got closer since he remembered that the ground had given away. He peered into the hole and at the sight he frowned. It had him wondering if the attack the night before was a fluke. He stuttered a moment before saying, "Angie?"

Angela stood up from where she was kneeling and looking at the soil and looked up. She saw Sam and said, "It wasn't that deep."

It was true. The hole wasn't that deep. It would have taken some effort to get out of but it wasn't like one of those twenty to thirty foot pits and it wasn't lined with spikes. Sam frowned at the fact that it was pretty shallow. "I can see that. Couldn't you see that last night?"

"Hey," Angela replied as she looked up after looking around the walls, "I may be able to see in the dark better than a human, but when you're getting beat on, it's a little harder to near impossible to notice that."

Sam made a slight face. It was more to hide the fact that he was relieved that she hadn't taken off. It had been hard when he booted her out the door when she first made him aware of the Old Man. He didn't want her to go either and he didn't really trust Sacha but he trusted her judgment on him and he knew he had to protect her from the guy chasing her. "Sorry. It's just…"

Angela looked up at Sam. She could tell that he had been worried and it occurred to her that he thought she had taken off. Of course it was a secret that she did think about taking off but to go talk to someone about another matter yet she decided against stealing away in the night type of thing. She couldn't do that to them and especially not to Sam.

It had been unexpected when Sam fell asleep in the chair he had been sitting in. She had been making more tea when she turned around and found him out like a light. She did have to admit that she had been humming a song while she worked and it didn't occur to her that she had been humming a tune that had soothed Sam when he had a bad dream in the car. Most of the tunes were nameless and mixed with her own compositions.

She had taken two vicodin so the pain was dulled and she wasn't going to let Sam get a crick in his neck. So she maneuvered it so that Sam's arms were around her neck and she sort of did a strange piggy back and dragging through the room towards her bed. It was easy and there was no strain on her ribs or her breathing so the ribs were still bruised. It became a different story when she got him on the bed and for once she was glad that it wasn't like how it was in the forest in the Romani camp near the river.

Carrying a body that was unconscious, whether they were passed out or dead, was like carrying ten times the normal body weight if you weren't used to it. If you were injured, then it was like trying to deal with a drunk and that was if you knew what you were doing and part of it was trying to not to aggravate your injuries. It turned out that it became a situation that was hard to get out of.

She had gotten Sam onto the bed but letting him fall was another story. The vicodin made her a little unstable and she ended up teetering on her feet. They landed on the bed and it didn't quite feel too good on her ribs. She was about to remove Sam's arms from her neck when he moved them himself in his sleep and grabbed her around the waist.

It was very familiar to that morning in the Romani camp and Angela had been tempted to snuggle again as he pulled on her gently. It was like in his sleep he knew where the tender spots were on her body. It did put her in a quandary. It was tempting for her to start moving his limbs away so she could at least make herself comfortable on the floor or the chair. She was going to do it when she heard, "Don't leave."

Sam was in a deep sleep and probably dreaming about something. In her mind though, her sense of propriety was telling her to just do what she intended and get up and take the floor or the chair. Her compassion though was telling her to obey the request. She moved as if to remove his arm only to find that he grabbed a hold of her and held on. So in the end they stayed in the same bed but she felt like she was stiff all night until she went into a deep sleep.

She woke up to find that her head was pillowed by his arm and he was on his back still asleep. His hand on the arm trapped by her head was fingering her hair occasionally and she found that she was turned towards the warmth of his body. As soon as she realized the position she was in, she felt her face turn red and she was out of bed and in the bathroom with a change of clothes. It was like she couldn't get out fast enough.

She did slow down enough to make sure he was comfortable until he decided to wake up and put on a pot of coffee as a polite gesture. She needed to get out and think a little and it occurred to her to investigate where they were attacked. So she took her travel satchel that had a bunch of stuff useful from more lucrative days and heading out after tidying things as per her habit though she left her bag of clothes in the bathroom. It was an oversight and she didn't think how that would look, of course assuming that the coffee and the fact that her stuff was in the room would reassure Sam that she just didn't take off.

Looking up at Sam, Angela decided to face the music since she couldn't be more embarrassed about it than he could. There was the possibility that he would assume that it was like at the Hotel Thayer but even he was smart enough to see that there was no settee for her to sleep on. She replied, "Hey, I understand but believe if I needed to go somewhere I would tell you and Dean about it. You know that right?"

Of course Sam knew that. "Yeah of course, but your duffle wasn't in the room and your spyware bag was gone," he replied.

Angela gave a slight chuckle, "Sorry if I didn't go by my usual habits. I left my clothes in the bathroom though I suspect that if you looked there, you wouldn't be out here."

She was right and Sam knew that. He squatted so it didn't have to be that he shouted down at her. "You're right. I just thought that maybe… it was the Old Man. I thought you had to make a quick exit."

"I'm not running anymore," Angela replied looking up. She went back to kneeling to examine something she found in the pit and to look at the dirt more. She decided to play forensic analysis since they really weren't working a case now. "If he comes, then I'll stand my ground and eventually he'll get what is coming to him."

"You mean ripping his head off."

"One of the things I would like to do. I also thought about sticking it to him literally with Absolution but of course it always ends up with decapitation," Angela replied. She studied the dirt and gave a slight hum. She took a bit and rubbed it between her fingers.

Sam made a slight face. It was rather disturbing to hear threats of violence come out of her mouth. She was usually more subtle or polite with the threats to the point where it sounded poetic but the intent was clear. To hear her being so glib about her plans for payback was something to get used to and the thought occurred to him that she was sounding like Dean in that regard. True she had a protective nature that was like Dean's but for the most part her nature was more into subtlety and empathy. It was another thing that he suspected came from her time in captivity and he wasn't sure if it was a good thing.

"So did you really think that I would leave you?"

Sam looked down to where she was pinching dirt samples and sniffing them out. "Well yeah… but only because of the Old Man." He shifted and some dirt fell in. "Sorry."

"No worries," Angela replied. "I once dug myself out a pit like this. Not fun but doable and I didn't even have a pine box." She hummed as she finished her inspection. "Bad place to put a hole and it wasn't even deep."

Sam frowned at the comment about digging herself out of a hole. He focused more on her comments regarding the hole, "What do you mean?"

"The dirt," Angela replied. "The crumbly kind that should have made the hole collapse in on itself. Maybe the hell bitch got lucky when digging it though why digging a hole is beyond me." She rubbed her fingers on the speck she had. "It was a demon because of this old friend." She held up her hand.

"Sulfur."

"Yep and this just has me puzzled." Angela looked down at the hole once more. The whole thing sounded fishy. She then looked up the wall and slung her bag over her shoulder. Grabbing a root, she pulled on it and started climbing up. She was near the top when her hand was grabbed by Sam and she was pulled out.

She landed with a slight hop out of the hole and started chuckling. At Sam's look she said, "You had your turn at a bad kung fu move." She dusted her jeans off out of habit and readjusted her bag.

Sam couldn't help but chuckle as well. It was a little bit funny. He sobered though as he looked her over since he was certain that she was probably still sore from last night. He didn't want to pry since it was probably something that he couldn't see and was embarrassed to ask.

Angela knew what he was looking at. She said, "I'm good, really. Nothing that a warm shower and regular aspirin won't cure."

"No vicodin?"

"Nope." Angela didn't want to say anything about the fact that earlier that morning she rifled through the refrigerator and found her hidden stash of blood. She still found it something rather private and disgusting even though she knew Sam and by extension Dean would understand. Still after their conversation last night, she knew that she would need to drag it out if only to jump start her body's natural healing.

Sam wasn't convinced since he had seen her wince the night before. If he had to suspect something, it was more likely that she had a stash of blood and he suppressed a sigh. It was bothersome that she still felt self-conscious about it but at least she was taking care of herself. That was more important. "Alright."

"Good," Angela replied and started walking towards where she had thrown or shoved or whatever it was and started looking.

"You don't have to hide it you know."

Angela had been kneeling where she had found where the demon landed. She found more sulfur and gave a tentative sniff. Aside from the rotten eggs smell, she picked up the personal scent of the demon. She heard Sam as she sniffed the sulfur some more. She didn't look at him but stood up and replied, "Just another thing to deal with."

It could have been an offhand comment and meant nothing but Sam was astute enough to know what she meant by it. He dropped it for now but at least he let her know that she didn't have to be ashamed about it… at least in front of him and Dean. Instead he directed focus back to the case at hand, "I take it you found something."

"Something like that," Angela replied, grateful that she didn't have to go into more detail. She just continued to poke around after telling Sam that he should consider different attire than gym wear. It had him give a halfhearted scowl since she was smiling a teasing grin and he feigned defeat and headed back to his and Dean's room.

* * *

_Seriously Angie, you're asking me to look up omens?_

Angela squatted on the roof of the row of rooms that hers and the boys were on. She was looking out at the landscape as if trying to see what it was about that spot that had the ridiculous hole dug there. In one hand she was holding the dart that stuck Sam and it was draped over her thigh as she looked out. Her hands free set was in her ear as she replied, "Just asking a favor Jo. You know I don't really have any minutes with the order."

_That is really a lame excuse you know. You have friends within the order that would do it for you regardless._

Angela chuckled at that. It had been a while since she talked to Jo even though it was roughly a month or so that she, Sacha and Jo did a hunt. It was a good thing too since it was a particularly nasty wendigo that just was… nasty. "You see right through me Jo. You always have and I'm still trying to figure out how you got me to show you some bells and whistles in hunting."

_Part of my charm. Seriously though Angie, why the call? I know that besides Bobby, there is one other person that knows demon tracking that good and that's you._

Angela made a slight hum. It was true that she could have gone to Bobby with this since he was like the resident expert in omens next to her. Well she _tracked _demons meaning that she knew how to sniff them out. There was a reason she called Jo and it was for reasons that she was doubly shy about confessing. So she hid behind humor, "I see little sisters are biased."

_Usually are especially if the big sister can do super cool moves and is a dead eye with a gun. That's not going to side track this conversation. What's the problem?_

Angela made a slight twist of her head as if she were looking at Jo. "Just… um…"

_Oh I get it. It's a Sam thing right?_

"Um…"

_It's okay. You want the honest truth? I think it's good that you show some interest in a guy. It was getting boring with guys and girls hitting on you and ignoring them._

Angela made a slight smile like she wanted to laugh. She looked at the dart and then out at the landscape. "The sad thing Jo is that I am like a girl when it comes to this stuff like this. Even worse my paranoia may be making me see things where there is nothing. So…"

_Hey I get it Angie. It's sort of like when Mom and Dad took you in. You were stiff with everybody, even me until you loosened up. You remember right? That night that you rescued me?_

Angela pursed her lips as she looked slightly up at the grey sky. She did remember that night and the thing was it wasn't anything supernatural… well at least she thought so. It was a fire in the house that Ellen and Jo were staying in visiting some relatives or something. Someone was too drunk and playing a holiday prank and ended up setting a fire that nearly destroyed the house and was like reliving a nightmare.

Ellen made it out but Jo was still stuck inside. Angela had gone in against the advice of the firefighters and went to save Jo. If she hadn't gone in, Jo would have died from smoke inhalation and it was then that she had discovered how much she cared about the spunky little blonde and her family. She replied, "Yeah I remember. I was still uncomfortable with it for a while and it didn't help that I was on the road hunting."

_Still you know certain types of feelings and you know how to handle it though I'm guessing that this is different. You know I wish I could see your face since you never blush._

"You are incorrigible," Angela replied smiling. "It's just a hard thing to talk about and I used to never have a problem with him touching me but now…"

_Can't ignore the feeling can you? So you play it safe with mundane things like hands and arms. Nothing to it._

"Pretty much doing that," Angela confirmed. "Jo, you're the best."

_What I'm here for._

"Can you still check out about demon activity? I really can't go into too much detail except that it's related to that one book in the Bible; the very last book."

_Not much of a church goer or Bible reader but I get what you're going at. You think that they may be after one of them?_

"Maybe but all I can say is that I may have encountered a strange demon who does things that belong in a cartoon. Well the hole in the ground is a good idea if you made it deep enough." Angela gave a slight toss of her head as she shrugged her shoulder. "It's about as weird as me getting trussed up for a beauty contest."

_Which you would win hands down._

"Please and you're starting to sound like Dean. Maybe I should tell him and we'll see what he says about that," Angela replied with a hint of a warning but it also implied that she was ready to bring out the guns with teasing.

_Go ahead. At least he has eyes that see the truth._

"Alright then," Angela replied as if it were Jo's last chance. "Seriously, can you check it out? It's not that I don't' want to ask Bobby but he's on a job and he took my dog with him."

_You mean the hell hound? I heard that he can make himself visible and you can summon him from anywhere._

"And where did you hear that?" Angela frowned but was grinning. She had mentioned Cerebus' new accomplishments and Jo had been impressed since there wasn't that much known on hellhounds except that once they had your scent, you were toast.

_Oh from someone who was paying their sister a visit after getting a scolding from Mom. On the serious note, I'll check it out but I think you should call folks with a longer reach on this stuff. Though I'm guessing that you don't want them to know too much about it._

"It may be nothing Jo and easily solvable. Besides I would rather lay low since I'm pretty much involved with other things, and no they aren't the bad kind; just the kind of thing that would bring too much attention. I don't want to rouse suspicions."

_No problem Angie. Hey that thing you did with my knife worked like a charm with the werewolf. It wasn't a bullet but…_

"An old friend taught me some things. Glad I could help Jo. I still want to do that girl's night out in hunting. Find something and give me a call."

_You sure the Winchesters can handle not having you around?_

"They better since they had been hunting solo before I came around," Angela replied feeling a bit better. Sometimes not talking about what was on her mind but hinting at it and then talking about other things helped. "Thanks again Jo. Give a call if you find something."

_Take care, Angie._

Angela flipped her phone off and stood up. She held the dart in her hands and looked at it. It certainly was a strange method. Most demons were not afraid to deal with them by using their powers. This was unknown and it was something to be wary of. The known she could handle but it was the unknown that proved scary since there wasn't an established way of dealing.

"You really have a strange way of calling for help."

Angela looked to see Castiel standing on the roof beside her and looking out over the landscape. She raised her brow and gave a slight huff, "Sensing distress again Cas?"

"Yes and it is rather disturbing." Castiel looked at Angela. "Your emotions are not what they used to be."

"Good eye Cas. That usually is what happens when something new comes your way," Angela replied. She sighed to calm down since it was pointless to get pissed over that. He was responding out of care and doing his best to hide it, which was badly. "Since you're here, can you do something for me Cas?"

The angel studied his charge with that intense expression. It was rare that she asked of him to help. "What do you need?"

* * *

**A/N:** Wake up calls and Angie investigates the hole and talks to Jo. Stay tuned for more on The Failed Demon...


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Another day, another town and that was how the Winchesters rolled. However with the fact that his little brother and his girl had been jumped and by a demon no less, Dean Winchester was inclined to stay in town until it was solved. As soon as he woke up, he tried waking his Sasquatch brother only to find that there was nothing there. It was logical to think the worst since it was a demon and it had Dean rushing to get dressed after a quick shower.

As it turned out Sam was fine and appeared on the doorstep in what he slept in and it had Dean go Dean Inquisition on him. The only thing that Sam copped to was a morning walk and with Angela. So it had Dean frustrated but at least relieved that Sam had been safe. Rule number one was still in effect at all times but he could stand down to defcon two.

So now they were having a conversation, well sort of, in the diner nearby. It was a sort of conversation since Angela was purposely ignoring it while reading the local paper and a few others on her computer pad. Dean was trying to get something out of her but all he got were looks from Sam that were saying that he was embarrassing himself if he persisted.

"Are you even listening?"

"Dean, it was only a demon and it's long gone by now," Sam replied. "Angie gave it a nice knock on the head and it decided to split."

It was a theory at best on Sam's end but it was all he could come up with since Angela was not really telling what she found around the hole or even offering a theory. Instead she was just reading her newspaper like nothing was happening but he could guess that she was thinking. So he was trying to calm Dean down and hope that he could see that she was thinking and not blowing him off.

"Come on Sam. Since when in our history have the demons left us alone after that?"

"There's a first time for everything," Sam offered with a shrug as he took a sip of his coffee.

Dean scoffed as he popped a slice of bacon into his mouth. He began chewing and studying Angela who made a sweeping motion to indicate she was turning a page. She hadn't said a word the entire time except to order breakfast which was as bad as Sam… well she ordered the half order of French toast and a side of fruit and she barely picked at it. "Angie, are you even following what is going on?"

"Perfectly," Angela replied. She had been listening to Dean nonstop as he grilled for answers and started calling the shots about what they should do next. She knew it was irritating in that she wasn't responding like she should but there were other things she could be doing. "I'll admit that it is strange which is why I called in a few favors while looking around. Other than that, I think I found us a job."

"What job? We're already on a job," Dean replied looking at her. "The one where you and Sam were attacked and fell into a hole."

"A hole that would have been easy to get out of if I had been paying attention," Angela replied as she pulled up what she found. She flipped it around and continued, "In the meantime I think I found something that would keep us occupied while my favors are being called in. Suspicious circumstances that point to a vengeful spirit."

"We're on a job already," Dean replied being adamant.

"With what lead?" Angela gave Dean a pointed look that clearly said he was behaving like a child and should act his age for once. "Look I checked around and I got a nice whiff of the demon. If they show up… Right now here is something we can do."

"Don't talk to me like I'm four."

"Stop acting like one," Angela retorted in a low voice. She looked at Dean full on to let him know that she understood his worry but to make a big deal out of nothing would get them nowhere. "My contacts will check out if someone is up to something and we'll go from there. Until then, business as usual?"

Dean grumbled slightly but Angela had a point. It was like he said earlier when he and Sam first got back together; they take one thing at a time. "Fine, dragon lady."

"Dean."

"Bring it on, bulldog," Angela replied as she made a slight motion with her hand to indicate that it was okay. She gave a coy smile as she took a sip of her coffee.

Dean knew a challenge when he saw one. It was going to be either a prank or verbal insults. Either one was fine with him since he could hold his own. "It's on princess."

"Take your best shot, shorty."

It was much later and a round of alphabet insults that they were on the road and pulling into the town that had the case. It was a town in the middle of Ohio or something like that and pretty small but not so small that it wasn't on a map. After their fun in Kansas City and Missouri, Dean was willing for a small podunk town in the middle of nowhere.

"Twin Pines?" Sam was looking at the seedy motel they found in town. It looked seedy by their standards and it probably had some weird ass motifs inside the rooms.

"Lone Pine is down the highway," Angela commented. "Some crazy idea about breeding pine trees and of course competition." She was reading her pad to find more on the case they were doing.

Dean looked back at her thinking she was making a joke but seeing that she was busy, he pulled into the parking lot. He came back with two sets of room keys and tossed her the set for her room. "Did the owner kill a pine while he was at it?"

"No idea," Angela replied as she got out and pulled out her bag.

The rooms were better than some motifs. At least it matched what the motel was. Dean was happy because of magic fingers and Angela gave a slight eye roll. "You and magic fingers," she muttered as she went to her room.

As soon as she dragged in her stuff and shut the door, she went about in her usual habit of organizing everything. It didn't take long and she was finished when she turned and found Castiel standing right behind her. She didn't flinch but found herself in the unique position of standing toe to toe with the angel. "Cas, remember personal space and knocking?"

Castiel looked around and took a step back. "Should I go out and knock?"

"I think that would be pointless," Angela replied with a slight side smile. "At least this won't be fodder for Dean's bad sex jokes." She saw the angel start to question and hastened to say, "Don't worry Cas. My virtue is still intact and that is only between you and me capice?"

Castiel stopped whatever he was going to say and instead replied, "I don't understand that phrase but I am assuming that this is a secret."

"And Cas wins this question," Angela replied with the slightest bit of sarcasm.

Castiel looked at Angela. He was familiar with sarcasm but the application by his charge could be baffling at times since it seemed as natural as breathing. He just stared.

Angela knew that Castiel wasn't big on human expressions and didn't always get them. Half the time his responses were hilarious. She decided it was best to get to business and said, "Never mind. I assume you found out a few things?"

"You need to be more specific."

"Well did we stumble on a potential seal and didn't know it or are demons making hell for us just for the sheer pleasure?"

"We are working on preventing the breaking of seals. The attack on you and Sam appear to be random," Castiel replied. "There is no indication that there is a seal near here."

"Well that's good but being random?" Angela frowned a bit at that assessment. It wasn't like the angel was prone to being a joker or even a trickster. "Cas demons do things with a purpose in mind even if it seems like a game. I know that from experience. This though… maybe it is random but it is so odd."

"There are no demonic omens within this area," Castiel replied.

"Then why the demon?" Angela mused as she passed by Castiel. "Why even bother?"

"Perhaps you are making too much of this," Castiel mused. He was puzzled by this as much as she was. It did seem random and the demons that were out for his charge. He had inquired about the seals and if there were any that were nearby for Absolution to put a stop to and his superiors said that there were none.

Angela looked at Castiel. She knew he wasn't trying to be a dick. Sure he did have a stick up his ass at times but he essentially was a good person. He wouldn't say things to be a pain. She raised her brow slightly and replied, "That is a possibility but the fact that the demon dug a hole… Cas what demon would do that?"

"Perhaps it is not a demon."

"Cas, it was a demon and I'm not making it up." Angela made sure that the angel was looking straight at her. For some odd reason, when he stared at her full on and looked her in the eye, he didn't doubt what she said and she didn't tell him lies either. "I can tell by the smell."

Castiel frowned at that. This was new to him. He knew what happened to her in the pit. "Smell them?"

"I… can smell demons like I can any nonhuman thing. It's better if they're cut and bleeding. Blood has a pretty strong smell," Angela replied giving a slight nod. "Besides I found sulfur. It was a demon. Do you know if hell has a demon that operates solo; like off the grid?"

"Not that I know of. It would be most unusual," Castiel admitted. "Is it your request to find out?"

Angela looked at the angel and gave a soft smile as she replied, "Can you do that?"

Castiel stared at his charge. That was twice she had asked for help. He suspected that it was tied to some emotions that he picked up on but she was keeping hidden. He replied, "I can do that."

Angela smiled back and watched as Castiel took his leave. She looked at nothing in particular as she smiled at a particular memory that involved her and the stoic angel. It was there for a brief moment and then it was gone as she sighed and went about her business. Maybe she was making too much of a deal out of this.

* * *

"I don't understand. How could someone spout marbles out of their head?"

Dean thought that was a good question too. He and Sam were up early and in the usual get up with their cover being the FBI. They were at the scene of the latest incident where some guy who was considered a nut started spewing marbles out of his head. Before that some lady died when she said her leg felt like it was full of pins.

In Dean's mind it was definitely something like a witch; the whole play on metaphors and stuff like that. He had to admit that it was most unusual for a witch. They usually liked the direct approach. He should know since he knew one that could do things that there ought to be a law against when it came to sex.

Dean turned his attention towards the lady and replied, "We can't really say anything about it ma'am since we're still looking into a few leads. Can you tell us if Harold here had any enemies?"

"No. He was harmless," the old biddy replied.

_Really?_ Dean raised his brow at that. "Not to be rude but the guy was a conspiracy theorist. I'm sure he may have annoyed somebody with anything he might have said. Are you sure that he didn't have any enemies?"

"No," the old lady replied, "Harold was virtually harmless. He may have rambled on about monsters that were contracted by the government to kill off its enemies but it was mostly stuff that amused the kids. There was no reason to kill him."

"I'm sure. We just need to be thorough. One last question: the previous victim, Lana Turner… did she know Harold?"

"Everyone knew Harold. In order to get to the main stores you have to pass by where he would set up shop and gave his rants," the old lady replied. "They would have interacted with him regardless."

Dean cast a glance and caught Sam coming in the room. The shake of Sam's head told him what he needed to know. He looked at the old lady and said, "Well thank you for your time."

"I hope you find the person that killed Harold. He really was a nice man."

Dean gave a slight smile and a nod and turned to leave the house with Sam in pursuit. Once they were safely outside he started talking, "So you found nothing?"

"Aside from a few walls covered with newspaper articles and string everywhere, I got nothing," Sam replied as he headed towards his side of the car.

"Nothing? No hex bags?" Dean looked over the rook of the Impala at Sam.

"Nothing Dean."

"That's impossible. Witches usually do that hex bag crap to get what they want," Dean replied as he got into the driver's side of the car.

"Maybe we're not dealing with a witch," Sam offered as he got in on his side of the car. He adjusted his position.

"Right and it maybe that demon on yours and Angie's ass," Dean deadpanned as he started the engine. Putting the car in gear he drove down the street. "If it's not a witch, then what is it cause it really looks like a witch did it."

Sam mused about it in the car. The nature of the deaths suggested witchcraft. He remembered the desperate housewives that tried their hand at it. The one who used the hex bags… that was serious mojo and that led to the demon who knew Ruby. There were no hex bags though and Sam didn't know of any witch that didn't use hex bags to work that kind of spell work. "I know Dean. Maybe we're dealing with a witch that figured out how to do it without the hex bags."

"Or the witch bitch removed them before the bodies were found," Dean pointed out. He made a turn to head towards a diner he spotted on the way over. The call of food was heavy on his stomach and he needed a good slice of pie and a beer. "Could be a sign that they are getting smarter."

"Maybe."

"I know one thing, Angie should've been here. She would have been able to tell us straight off what the hell."

"I think she's going to check on the bodies at the coroners," Sam offered. He thought she had been distracted ever since they got started on the case that morning. She was physically there but her mind was elsewhere.

"Well that's just peachy," Dean replied, "She's never squeamish about dead bodies."

Sam said nothing since it was just Dean's way of working through a difficult case. He mulled over the case and his thoughts were brought back to what happened with the hole and the dart. His shoulder was fine since it was just a stab and it wasn't deep. A plus was that she had a way of making it so it wasn't too bad. What was on his mind was that he couldn't ignore the fact that the idea of a hole dug to catch them by a demon… He was wondering if this was connected.

"Sammy? You mind stopping?"

Sam realized Dean was talking to him and looked over and replied, "What?"

"I said I was starving. I was planning on stopping. You hungry?" Dean looked over at Sam and peered at him. "What's going through that mind of yours College Boy?"

"Nothing. Just mind on the case," Sam replied. He looked at his watch. Knowing Angela, she would need another dose of the stuff if she was going on a regimen of recovery on her torso. It was tempting to call and ask but it was like he and Dean constantly reminded each other. She wasn't a baby and the mother henning would just piss her off. "Dean, do you think that there is a connection about what happened…"

"Don't go there Sam. That was a demon and we don't have a lead so we're gonna work this case. One thing at a time," Dean replied with a slight shake of his head. He looked over at Sam and added, "Sam, if there's one thing that I learned from you and especially Angie, it's to check your evidence. Did you see any sulfur?"

Sam pursed his lips before replying, "No."

"Big indicator that there are demons. None around so no demons on this case. I'm still shooting that this is a witch with a strange sense of humor. I hate witches."

"You like Haley."

"She's different," Dean replied as he defended Haley. It was the same way with Angela; first with the Doc Benton case and then of course the whole thing with Jack Montgomery. Dean was aware that he sounded hypocritical but it was hard to describe differences he saw. "She's a Celt."

"With African witch doctor roots; her family is one of the five responsible for the tournament," Sam countered.

"Lay it on Champion."

"Bite me."

"Not even if I had pointy teeth," Dean countered with a grin on his face. He knew that Sam was all about anonymity and the fact that there were things out there that knew his baby brother was the Champion of the tournament… it was plenty of entertainment. Of course it was a bit of a bitch if someone called him a Slayer of Demons. It was even a pain to be known because he was a Winchester.

Sam huffed a bit, not able to comeback with a witty retort at the moment. He finally said, "As if she would give them to you."

"Not a chance Sammy." Dean chuckled since he knew he won this one.

Sam was smiling a bit. This was how it was like before all this, right when they started out. It was nice to catch a glimpse of the old Dean. "No but she'll kick your ass."

"Right and she'll pull a Matrix act." Dean grew quiet as he became a bit thoughtful. He then asked, "What do you think about the new superpowers?"

Sam was surprised. Dean hadn't wanted to talk about it ever since they left Kansas City and she had given a more or less satisfactory answer. Then there was that thing about throwing her under the bus on the way to Missouri. She talked about it more or less to him and she said that it was what it was. It was like she was adopting a new philosophy and trying not to take what either of them said about freaks and choices too personally. He replied, "She can throw things heavier than a coffee mug."

"That's not what I meant Sam," Dean replied.

"What do you want me to say? You saw it as well as me, and it is what it is," Sam replied, not wanting to go into it. It touched upon things that he had been researching in relation to that challenge she gave him.

Dean hesitated, not wanting to shout at Sam and because most of his comments would be pointing out the double standards crap though he was certain that Sam saw that too. Finally he said, "I know. I just noticed that it's almost reflex when she uses them; little to no hesitation."

"She said that it was because of the Old Man and something about accepting it," Sam replied. Then out of the blue, "Dean, what do the angels want with her?"

Dean puzzled about that himself. When he went back in time to stop Azazel even though his mom still made the deal, he met Angela of that time. She was gorgeous then as she was now and she seemed happier then, which he found strange since she always lit up whenever he and Sam were around; mostly Sam though. That she and his mom were close there was no question about it especially how Samuel treated her when she came to dinner. It was hard to imagine what the angels wanted.

When he got back, he was sure that his Angela would remember him being there but she didn't. It was like she had been made to forget and it wasn't the first time. The fact that Castiel knew her and she knew him told him that she had an inkling about it but was in serious denial of the whole thing… That was just… bothersome "Wish I knew Sam just like I wish she would upfront about this whole Malachi thing."

"It means messenger and you know that it also refers to angels so…" Sam shrugged his shoulder. He had shared that bit with Dean.

"Right, she's a real angel," Dean scoffed. He actually thought it a bit hilarious since she was the one that didn't conform to anybody's idea of an angel. He couldn't deny that it was a coincidence of that and the fact that her name was a form of 'angel' so…

He was about to say something when the Impala bounced unnaturally and it could be felt that the air had blown out in at least one of the tires of the car. Dean used everything he knew to pull the Impala over to the side without crashing it. Once he was stopped he automatically checked to see if his brother was all right before getting out of the car.

As it turned out, one of the Impala's tires had been punctured. Dean bent over and fingered the puncture trying to figure out what it was that took out the tire. At the same time he was cursing, "That was a new tire. What the hell did that?"

Meanwhile Sam was looking around when he noticed something. He frowned as he walked over to take a look while ignoring Dean's grumbling. "Angie will take care of it."

"Dude, I'm all for when she offers a meal but a man's wheels…" Dean had his pride. As much as he liked milking certain situations, like when she mothered him and didn't kill him with it, he still had a thing about her buying things. He knew she had the money and knew that she saw it only as money and in her mind it was something that needed to be taken care of. To Dean though, it was a sting on pride.

Sam realized he said something without thinking since his focus was on the road. He replied, "Sorry Dean. But you know she would offer. She has an obsession as unhealthy as yours about the car."

"She loves my baby and she would take care of her and not douche her up."

"You never complained when she played Bach." Sam frowned as he picked up what he found. He looked around and his eyes widened in surprise and because what he saw was… he couldn't think of what to call it.

"Whatever, Bitch. Did you find what I hit?"

"Yeah."

"Well?"

Sam wasn't sure how to say it. It was absurd and possibly a result of crazy. Still Dean was waiting for an answer. "Um, you went over a fork in the road."

* * *

**A/N:** Dean is ready to go on the warpath but they have a new case of strange and he ends up running over a fork in the road. WTF? Stay tuned for more on The Failed Demon...


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Katherine looked around at her handiwork. She hoped that this one would work. All she had to do was distract the Winchesters. That was what Cary had proposed and she was following it to the letter. She was given a free reign on how to do it and she was to go all out with it. Cary did warn her though that Absolution was fiercely protective over the Winchesters.

Katherine thought that rather sweet in that someone cared enough about them when they got in trouble. Most humans weren't that lucky. She told him, "Oh that is nice. At least they have someone willing to fight tooth and nail."

Cary's response had been, "Um sure."

After that Crowley said that this would be her primary case until she received word that everything was clear for her to return back to her regular division. This was what he called a special project. Katherine was eager to get that going since it was considered a badge of honor to work on a special project for the boss. In a way it paved the way for promotion on the pay grade or more resources for the division. Katherine was hoping for more of having a sales rep for puppy patrol but of course that was up to the boss.

She was given one final missive but it was from upper management. Katherine knew that whatever upper management said had to be obeyed since it was upper management. Miss Lilith was one not to be trifled with when she made an executive decision. So Katherine was determined to do her best even though she was aware of Cary's warnings. This would just be like her usual cases but it had to be handled a bit differently.

Miss Lilith spoke to her in private and told her that it was fine to distract the Winchesters since the company was close to finding another seal. However, it would be a bonus if she were to put Sam's head especially on a pike. Dean would be the icing on the cake so to speak if she got him too. Katherine listened and nodded to indicate that she heard.

The main sticking point was going to be Absolution. Cary told her that she was fiercely protective of the Winchesters. When Katherine opened the file on Absolution, she realized that she had experienced that firsthand. She realized that the dhampir she attacked was Absolution and she frowned at why surveillance failed to mention that detail. It didn't matter though since she was sure that Absolution would be too busy trying to protect them to notice everything.

The first order of business was to draw them in. Katherine had a few spells that she could work in order to create a couple of bodies that died under suspicious circumstances. Then she could lay some traps that were always good when she was on puppy patrol. She could distract them and she had a couple of deadly traps that would be the bonus for upper management.

She had succeeded with the pins in the leg and losing marbles. Those had been fun. There were a couple of town drunks that said they saw pink elephants and that was a possibility. Of course she needed to focus on getting the Winchesters. She might have to set a few traps for Absolution too that were especially for her.

Katherine surveyed the area and looked around. She could probably cause mayhem at the motel the Winchesters were staying but she needed to start small. Then she would work up to the grander schemes.

"Planning something Katie?"

She looked to see Cary standing beside her. She beamed, "Cary! Yes I am. I already got started and I drew the Winchesters here."

Cary looked at Katherine with a slight smile but it felt painful. "That's good. They usually are drawn to the strange and unusual." He hadn't read the initial field reports but he did know that the deaths that drew the brothers and Absolution here were pretty bloody. That was a first for Katherine since she seemed to be more along the lines of… other things.

"Well I have them here and now I'm just going to play a little. Of course I have ideas for Absolution too."

Cary made a slight face. Even though he was a smartass with her, he knew better than to go up against Absolution. What Katherine decided to do was going to kill her. He figured that Lilith had something to do with it and since Katherine did follow protocol, she wasn't going to question orders from upper management.

The situation was that Katherine was probably sent to her death by Lilith. His sort of brilliant plan more likely was going to get the homely demon killed. It was probably what Lilith wanted since she was still in a funk over the seal mess. She did perk up when she learned that Katherine had switched her targets again and actually went against Absolution. Of course that would only make Absolution wary and on alert but then again since Katherine was unusual, it might have her worrying over the traps they avoided and the like since Katherine didn't think like other demons. It could be fun. He allowed, "That sounds interesting."

"I know you said that she would do anything for the Winchesters so I figure the best thing is to distract her with the puppy patrol protocols." Katherine beamed at Cary. "It would keep her busy and then I can do what Miss Lilith wants."

It was a brilliant plan. Cary thought that it might just work considering he did witness what Katherine was capable of. It would distract Absolution enough. It was crazy enough to work. He still wasn't looking forward to seeing her wrath though and he knew that she was going to release it if given the chance. Still this was Katherine and it might be that it would be nothing more than injuries that a Band-Aid could cure.

"I know Miss Lilith likes the stripping of flesh and stuff but that gets really messy."

Cary gave a slight look. _Yeah it's messy. That's why she likes it._ He said though, "Um… well that's pretty much what we do. Well at least the enforcers and minions group."

"Still there are other ways that don't require much effort."

"More like your idea of a trap being a hole in the ground," Cary muttered under his breath. He had only come to make sure that Katherine was actually on the job. He knew that Lilith thought he was nuts when he explained that you just had to keep things simple and Katherine would get the job done. More likely Lilith set this up as a means of getting rid of the demon which was why she was agreeable to this.

"That was good. I just need to dig the hole deeper."

"If you don't take into account the fact that Absolution does have abnormal reflexes," Cary mused, trying to be polite. He muttered it knowing that Katherine was going to do her own thing no matter what he said.

"I studied the case file on Absolution. I have some ideas. Believe me Cary, I'm going to do this right. Upper management will be pleased." Katherine looked at Cary with a smile that was like a little kid trying to please a parent. It was rather bizarre to see. "This is the most fun I've had on an assignment in years and my first special project."

_And probably the last one if Absolution thinks you're really going to kill the Winchesters. Of course that could be what Lilith wants. Just stick to what you do best Katie_, Cary thought to himself as he took in the happy look on Katherine's face. "Just do what you do best on puppy patrol. That will be the best bet."

"My intention," Katherine replied. "I don't think I can do anything like you can and you're the best even though the rest of the sales reps think your division is lower than dirt."

"Way to hit the nail on the head Katie," Cary muttered mostly to himself. He knew that she heard the grumbling but didn't really get bent out of shape. Another thing that was strange about her. Louder he said, "Well good luck Katie. I was just checking to see if you were doing okay."

"Oh thank you Cary. Let Mr. Crowley know things are going well and I'll have the report to him as soon as I am able," Katherine replied beaming like a happy child.

"Um… I'll do that," Cary replied. Something beeped and he looked at his wrist. Damn. He really didn't want to get into this and yet he was being drawn into it. "Look I gotta go. Do good."

Katherine gave a slight wave as Cary left. She had to get to work and set up some more of the distraction. She was going to do good on this and make upper management proud. She took off and went to pay a visit to a nice mailman and then she would find a way to say hello to one of the Winchesters and draw him in.

* * *

It truly was a strange sight. Angela frowned a little as she took a look at the body lying there on the slab. She put gloves on her hands and picked up the bloodied marble that spilled out of the ear of the victim at the moment. She held it up to look at it and asked, "And this was all in his head?"

The coroner was writing the report and replied, "Yeah. They were spilling out of his ears. Had enough to make several sets; maybe for official competition."

Angela continued to frown as she looked at the marble. It was rather small for the kind of marbles she had seen in toy stores for kids. The funny thing was that the shooter marble was huge and it came out of the guy's ear. This was most unusual and it sounded almost comical. In her mind though, the strange and unusual killing people wasn't funny. There was something going on and it looked like something a witch would do which was why the boys were investigating the house.

A clink on the slab got her attention and Angela looked. Another marble slipped out of the stiff's ear and was just as bloody. She asked, "Doc, have you done the brain yet?"

The coroner, Dr. Leia Thompson, looked up from her report and over at the FBI agent that was inspecting the body. She was surprised that the FBI was interested in this case but then again she wasn't going to question. However she did rather like the take charge attitude of the agent and she was pretty attractive. So she decided to cooperate and help the agent out as much as she could.

Dr. Thompson had done the standard chest cavity and took blood samples for toxicology. It was rather a shame that Crazy Harold died. She really thought him to be harmless and he did see a shrink. So she had to see if he had been on meds if any. She didn't touch the brain yet but something about the way the agent asked about it had her curious. She walked over and replied, "Not yet. Why?"

Angela continued to hold the marble in her hand and then picked up the one that just fell out of the ear. "This just fell out of the guy's ear. I am curious."

Dr. Thompson looked at the marble that the agent held. It was bloody and it looked like it had been in the ear orifice for a long time. It was then she noticed something in the nose. Picking up a part of forceps, she carefully inserted it in the nostril and grasped what she saw and gently pulled. She was about ready to freak out that what she was pulling out was huge. It took a lot of effort not to scream at the fact that she had pulled a big marble out of the body's nose.

"I have heard of that story of putting beans up your nose but this…"

Dr. Thompson looked at the agent who looked just as puzzled as she was. That was a freaky and it was nothing compared to the pins in the leg. "I think we should do the brain now."

Angela thought so too and thought it to be rather nice of the coroner to let her be a part of it. She put on the scrubs while the doctor did hers. She said, "I think we may be able to find out more about the guy who did this." It was meant more to calm the poor girl since pulling things like that out of a nose was a bit disturbing; not to mention the fact that marbles were coming out of the ears too.

"I hope so. I've seen strange things but pulling marbles out of a guy's nose and ears… that's a new one on me," Dr. Thompson replied as she finished tying her scrubs on. She made she her curly dark hair was tied back as she put the cap on and then started scrubbing her hands to prep them. She looked at the agent and noticed the calm demeanor as she rolled her shirt sleeves up and started scrubbing.

It didn't take long to get started on the head of Harold. Angela felt her lips quiver under her mask as she watched the cut was made with the scalpel and the skin was peeled back. It brought back memories of the pit and other events in her life. Flesh being peeled from bone… it had a sort of mind numbing quality to it and it never failed to bring up memories that were twisted. Angela prayed that she wasn't going to have nightmares from it.

The real surprise came when Dr. Thompson finished with the bone saw and was preparing to pop the victim's skull. Angela observed as the coroner gripped the skull and popped it off. The clanking sound was enough to startle them both as Angela widened her eyes at the sight of marbles spilling out of the guy's skulls.

Dr. Thompson gasped as she held onto the skull cap. "Um… that I didn't expect."

Angela glanced at the doctor before looking at the mess that spilled out. She had gloves on so she wasn't going to worry about contaminating evidence and the like. Aside from the red that indicated blood and maybe a few bits of what might have been brains, all there was were marbles and there was nothing interesting about the kind of marbles since they were regular marbles. It was the whole thing that was fishy.

"I think I'll go sit down."

Angela raised her brow slightly as the coroner moved to sit down after putting down the skull cap. Her lips twitched slightly in a grin but the girl had good reason to be freaked out. She of course had seen plenty of times blood and guts and not all of it was human. She went back to inspecting the skull cavity.

Everything was where it should be except the brain. In fact there was no brain. There was nothing except a bunch of marbles. Angela continued to frown and her suspicions began to form in a possible idea of what was going on but it was as farfetched as pigs flying. Frowning still, Angela asked, "About the first victim… was there anything unusual about that?"

Dr. Thompson had been sitting down and trying to convince herself that maybe she was seeing things but when the agent asked her questions, she knew that she couldn't lie. She replied, "Um… yeah. X-rays showed that there were pins in the victim's leg. It was like it filled all of the veins, capillaries and even the arteries. She bled out once the artery was severed. I don't think that she ever stood a chance… Do you know what's going on?"

Angela thought about it for a moment. She did have an idea but it was just too ridiculous to even consider. Still in her line of work, even the most ridiculous should be considered. She had been heard to say that there is no such thing as coincidence and that kind of thing. She replied, "I think I do but I would have to check with my colleagues. I'm really a profiler but I think this might be related to a case."

It was bullshit on the story but it seemed to calm the woman down and Angela was going to run with it. She wasn't going to worry the poor woman any further. She looked flustered enough with the guy who literally lost his marbles. Angela frowned at the thought that the guy did lose his marbles and it was literally. It did sound like it was a witch's doing but it wasn't like any witch she ever heard of.

Dr. Thompson gave a slight nod and went to her cabinet and opened to pull out a bottle of scotch. "I think I need a drink."

Angela turned and removed her mask and gloves. She took the time to remove her scrubs. She replied, "That's probably a good idea."

"Care to join me? Or are you on duty?"

Angela felt the need for a drink too. This had been one strange day. She replied, "I'll have one. Thank you."

Dr. Thompson nodded and pulled two glasses. Generally this kind of thing was discouraged but this was not a normal case. Twice within a span of days the strange and unusual and she just needed to mellow out. She poured the scotch and said, "This is really good stuff."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Angela replied as she took her glass. She didn't toss it back quickly. It would go to her head even though she couldn't get drunk on alcohol. She took a sip and stared at nothing in particular as she sat deep in thought.

Dr. Thompson studied the agent as she sat in thought. "So have you had many cases like this?"

Angela was staring at the wall as she thought about the case. She didn't notice the look of appraisal coming from the coroner. She was aware that she was being asked a question and she glanced over as she replied, "You see one and you think you've seen it all."

"I take it that it's a common occurrence."

"Um, you could say that. The Bureau knows who knows how to do what and what they're good at," Angela replied.

"And what are you good at?"

Angela turned her head at the tone the coroner's voice took and got a good look at how she was being studied. She was no stranger to being hit on. She had been hit on by both men and women and she had used both to her advantage but a long time ago. Of course sometimes she still occasionally played the relationship but was careful to make it like a casual friendship. She looked at the coroner and replied, "Um… profiling. Studying behavior and determining a personality type."

Dr. Thompson was really feeling the effects of the scotch as she leaned in close to get a good look at the agent. She really was beautiful. "And what kind of profile would you do on say… me?"

Angela saw the distance close between them and it was like watching it in slow motion. She could move back but it could be taken one of two ways. One was saying that she was repulsed by homosexuality and the other was that she was playing hard to get. She was getting the impression that once the inhibitions were lowered on Dr. Leia Thompson, she was a real go getter and she did have a rather strong personality. She had seen it in the way she dealt with the technicians in the lab and such. So this was something that could or could not bode well.

Angela slowly set her glass down and adjusted her seat. She cleared her throat as Dr. Thompson leaned in close and studied her. The coroner moved her head almost like what a predator would do when they were studying their prey. Angela replied, "Well… you would have what we would call a dominant personality. You take charge and have a good grasp of leadership."

Dr. Thompson gave a slight grin. She managed to take in a sniff and caught the whiff of roses. It wasn't overly strong but just the right amount. "Mmm… that's more of a show."

"Well… currently…" Angela paused. She moved a little bit back as Dr. Thompson leaned forward humming a little. That was really good scotch if she was acting like this. She didn't miss the distinct motion of being sniffed. Great on that point since it seemed that once whoever it was got a good whiff, they were pretty much ensnared. She hoped she could distract the coroner by her conversation, "You are being forward, direct; someone who knows what they want."

"And what do I want?"

"Um…" Angela would have said something but she found the coroner's lips firmly pressed against hers. She took it as her eyes went wide with surprise. When the coroner backed away Angela saw something in her eyes that was very familiar. "Um…"

* * *

"Come on. You know me well enough by now. Is this really necessary?"

Angela looked at Cary with a slight look. She then glanced at the sigil that was unmistakably a devil's trap and the summoning sigils around it. Yeah she knew Cary well enough but that didn't mean that she was going to be all chummy with him. She looked up with a raised brow and replied, "You seriously want to ask me that?"

Cary shrugged his shoulders. One glance told him that she was not in the mood to be messed with at the moment. For a moment he was afraid that she figured out the whole plan regarding Katherine and was going to demand answers. Then again she could be pissed about what he did with that vampire. He looked at her and replied, "Sweetheart, after all the fun we've had?"

Angela continued to have a raised brow as she replied, "I hardly call it fun. Just be lucky I don't kill you for working with the Old Man."

"So you figured that one out."

"The Old Man spilled the beans. Of course knowing you, there was probably a catch and considering what we both know of the Old Man… This is getting off easy." Angela crossed her arms across her chest. "Besides it's hard to get a stoolie as good as you."

"Only because I love you," Cary retorted. So she did know about his involvement. Well he was sort of safe on that point. Well it was time to get to business. "So what's with the phone call?"

Angela studied the demon and replied, "Any scuttlebutt regarding this town? Know of any witches working the area?"

_Thinking it's a witch. Well… close but no cigar_, Cary thought. The hardest part about being a stoolie was the fact that he had to play both sides of the tracks. It was his job though and that was why he was head of his division. He was the best at what he did. "Nothing in terms of demonic omens… if that is what you're asking about."

Angela eyed Cary as she released her arms and came close but not too close. She looked into his eyes while trying to dispel the discovery she made at the coroner's office that was still on her mind. She replied, "Well that's a relief. Is there anything you can tell me?"

"Nothing's going on in your neck of the woods." Cary was careful to emphasize that point. He wasn't going to slack up on his job and he knew that Angela wasn't going to abandon a job. "Queen bitch though is looking for a seal."

"I would have thought she knew where they all were," Angela replied as she looked around.

"These things take time sweetheart," Cary replied. "Everyone knows they exist but it's like anything else. No one knows exactly where…"

"Unless they do their homework," Angela finished. It looked like she was stuck with this case and it wasn't related. Well she could count on Castiel if he's out there chasing down and preventing seals from breaking. She looked at Cary and said, "You can go."

"I'll give the boss your regards," Cary replied.

"Whatever. Shut up and get out," Angela replied in a low voice as she broke the devil's trap. She motioned with an absentminded wave in Cary's direction. She looked away before looking back to see that Cary was gone and pulled out her cell phone. Maybe Sam and Dean found out a few things. She dialed the first speed dial number and held it up. She got a response and said, "It's me. Where are you?"

The response had her frowning. She said, "You ran over what?"

* * *

**A/N:** Katherine is getting ready for more 'fun' and Angie runs into someone vaguely interesting at the coroner's office and learns about Sam and Dean's mishap. More to come on The Failed Demon...


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

_This has got to be the strangest day ever_, Angela mused as she walked in the direction of the motel. She had decided that the walk would be more beneficial while she collected her thoughts. The conversation with Cary proved fruitless to the point that there was no demon activity but there were plans of trying to locate a seal. The timing couldn't have been more perfect.

Angela knew that she wasn't going to walk away from this case. She disliked it even though she had done it when certain things happened and she didn't agree with. This was too strange but two innocent people who had nothing in common were killed and she couldn't identify what reason for a witch, if it was one, would want to attack them. The fact that idioms were taken literally were something to worry about since there were hundreds of sayings that were not to be taken in a literal sense.

She continued walking along when she heard something crash behind her. Turning she saw a tree branch right where she had been standing not two seconds before. Angela frowned thinking that it was one of those strange coincidences where the branch was old and decided to fall off. She had watched trees collapse and the noise they made was a bit scary if you weren't used to it. She edged closer to it.

The branch was a pretty thick one and could have caused some serious damage if it happened to fall on a car or a roof or even a person. As she got closer, some things didn't make sense. For one, the branch was a young one. That meant that it shouldn't have fallen because of old age, weakness, or anything sort of being diseased. It would have to have been cut. Peering closer, she saw that the jagged end was like it had been broken off. That was strange in of itself since the branch appeared healthy and the tree appeared healthy.

Angela was no expert on trees but from the looks of things, the amount of force to break a branch that thick off a healthy tree required serious strength. She knew she could do it with branches that she could wrap her hand around. Something was up and it was getting her 'spidey senses' tingling. No doubt Dean would say she was being paranoid but things just weren't adding up like they were supposed to… at least not in the neat bow.

There was one other thing on the tree. Angela looked at the tree and noticed a few hex marks. It was indicative of a witch but it was really old stuff and it looked like it was intended to come down at a certain time but there was a slight error in the marks. Being suspicious, Angela pulled out her cell phone and took a picture of the hex marks. She also took a picture of the tree to inspect later in the room where she knew that there was no reason to fear hexing or anything like that.

Angela continued to frown a little as she started to back away. She wasn't going to stick around and be heckled by people. She started walking away when she heard something else and turned back around. What she didn't see was a bunch of pink elephants running through the streets. She did hear the sounds they made and shook her head. Something definitely was going on. The sooner she got t the boys and dealt with the situation, the better.

She continued walking down the path trying to ignore the strange literal idioms that were walking about, like the wolf in sheep's clothing. She couldn't help but pause when she finally saw the pink elephants and she wondered who conjured that one up. It couldn't have been her since she didn't get drunk off of alcohol unless it was someone else.

Angela rubbed her eyes with her fingers as she paused to think some more. She heard a noise and she didn't even want to look to see what it was. She then heard a crash and looked up in alarm. While it was a strange day indeed, there were certain sounds that just went hand in hand with being vigilant and on the alert for anything trying to attack you. The crashing metal was one of those sounds and it had her spinning to find its location.

As it turned out, it was a guy who was carrying out a bunch of stuff like he was going to do yard work. It was in her nature to give a helping hand and maybe she could get an idea about what was going on if she just talked to the locals. So she walked up and asked, "Need a hand?"

"Mind your own business."

Angela raised her brow, not put out by the rudeness of the response. She didn't think attitude figured into anything since Crazy Harold was virtually harmless and the other one was more or less like a soccer mom except she was single. It could have been a bad day so she persisted, "You look like you could use a hand."

"I said mind your own business."

"Just offering to help," Angela replied giving a slight shrug of her shoulders and started picking up a few things. "Besides I have a couple of questions."

"Well ya ain't gonna get any here," the guy replied as he snatched the trough from her hands. He ended up dropping something else and started swearing.

Angela could see the guy was pissed about something. She tried her placating tone stopping just short of using her mental abilities. "Here," she replied as she started picking up some gardening tools. She started putting them in the trough to make it easier to carry. "Just a little rearranging will help."

"And who asked ya for ya help? Get out."

Angela stood up from where she had been kneeling. It was clearly a wasted effort so she backed up. "Sorry to bother you sir."

"Don't ya be calling me sir, missy. I work for a living."

_Haven't heard that in a while_, Angela thought to herself as she took a couple of steps backward as she fished in her pockets and pulled out one of her cards. She offered it to the guy saying, "Like I said I have a couple of questions regarding the recent deaths in your town but since you are busy…"

The guy snatched the card out of her hand and shoved it into his pocket. That was something if not a completely positive result. "Whatever. Just get out." He tripped over the trough and grew upset. "Dammit!"

Angela resisted the sigh that came on. Either the guy was clumsy or he was just too pissed to see what he was doing. Either way, she didn't expect what happened next and it caught her off guard to the point that it would have been a Kodak moment for Dean if the situation hadn't been so serious. She was about to say something when the guy turned and seeing a shiny bucket he gave it a hard kick. The end result was a pop and squishy sounds as the guy's head exploded.

The blood sprayed on Angela since she was close but she was more stunned at what just happened. It was comical in a twisted way in her mind since she had seen heads explode… well bullet wounds to the head produced interesting wound patterns and she had seen blood and guts. However just for kicking a bucket… that was something else. All Angela could do was just stand there and blink in shock as someone started shouting about calling 9-1-1.

It was definitely human blood since she could taste it on her lips and she was familiar with the sanguine taste of it. She looked down at the guy who was on the ground. There was a spattering of brain and skull matter all over the lawn and the body. She could see that the back of the guy's head was completely blown away. His face was contorted in the angry look he had been wearing when he kicked the bucket. Inwardly she grimaced at that idiom as she looked ahead and she didn't bother to run. There was no point to it since there were witnesses. She just waited while the police arrived on the scene to give her account. She had practice in this and could make it work and she had one of the specialty cards so if they wanted to check her cover…

* * *

"Hey, you okay?"

Angela looked up at Dean as she sat hunched over in the chair at the police station. Her hands were clenched together like she was worried about something and she was. She was aware that she had been rocking back and forth in her seat as if trying to calm herself down. She managed to replied, "Physically yes."

Dean looked at her and became a little worried. He really didn't want to bring her back to the motel looking like this. Sam was sure to throw a bitch face and jump on her and hound her until she probably would shout at them. "And anything else?"

Angela had gone back to staring at the wall in front of her. She had been sitting there for the past hour. A little more wasn't going to hurt. After all she had to give a statement and she showed her badge and that led to more questions. Right now she was waiting while the sheriff was calling the 'director' to ask about her being there. So there wasn't much to do after she called the boys and told them where she was.

Aware that Dean was waiting for an answer, she replied, "I just saw the back of a guy's head get blown off and granted that I've… seen that before…" She had whispered the last part and made a slight motion with her eyes.

Dean got the hint at that. It sort of didn't surprise him that she would have seen something like that before. After all she took the autopsies and the blood and guts easily like it was nothing. This really had her shaken up. "What's different about this one?"

"He kicked a bucket."

"I know that." Dean looked at Angela with a frown and thought that maybe she was losing it. That was scary since he promised she wouldn't go downhill like that.

"No I mean he literally kicked a bucket," Angela replied placing emphasis on the idiom. She looked up at Dean. "He blew a gasket," she added hoping that it would click.

"Agent Pires," Sheriff Derricks called. He was holding the phone as he was looking in the direction of Angela and Dean. "Your director wants to speak with you."

Angela gave a slight look at Dean and stood up. Her blouse was covered with blood spattering and she held her suit jacket over her arm as she walked over towards the sheriff and took the phone. She politely thanked him before answering, "Sir?"

_What's this I hear about you getting involved with a crime scene?_

"I was just going to ask the guy a couple of questions," Angela replied as she noted the tone of voice Bobby's voice took. Her eyes looked outward, not really seeing anything.

_Okay and according to the sheriff, you were there when the guy's head exploded._

"He blew a gasket when he kicked the bucket," Angela replied very much aware that what she was saying didn't make much sense. She was trusting that in their line of work that they would grasp what she was saying.

_Are you trying to be funny?_

"No but it is as I said. He blew a gasket when he kicked the bucket," Angela repeated. It was painfully obvious that she sounded like a crazy person. Even she could admit that her choice in words sounded like it came from a crazy person.

_You are being serious._

"Yes, sir," Angela replied. She could hear the skepticism in Bobby's voice but he wasn't going to completely write her off.

_Any others?_

"Um… losing marbles, pins in the leg… pink elephants." She murmured the last part into the phone. That part was utterly ridiculous and definitely something that paranoid delusions were made out of. It was a sure fire way to get sent to the nut house. "Is there somebody in archives that could help out on this one? Previous cases?"

_I'll do what I can but it sounds like a Trickster._

Angela made a slight face at that. "Thank you sir." After a bit more conversation, she handed the phone back to the sheriff and went back to where Dean was.

"What did Bobby say?"

"He thinks I'm nuts," Angela replied as she finally took notice of her clothes. That was the fourth or fifth suit ruined because of bodily fluids whether they were human or nonhuman. She really didn't relish clothes shopping but considering the mess and the fact that they would probably want it for evidence. She gave a slight sigh.

"You know he doesn't think that," Dean replied, a bit relieved that her expression changed. It was a far cry from being completely all right but this had the least likely chance of Sam going Samantha on her.

"Even you were giving me a look," Angela replied as she took the scrubs from the crime scene investigator and went to hand over her shirt in some semblance of privacy.

Dean made a slight face but he couldn't deny it. He thought she had gone off her rocker when she started muttering what happened. He realized he should have been more believing since he had a punctured tire from a fork in the road. That still had him half wanting to laugh and half wanting to rip the head off the joker that thought that an expression was funny if taken literally. He was pissed because that was a good tire, almost brand new and not even Sam's inquisitive puppy expression was able to dispel that.

Angela came back just as the sheriff finished his conversation. He said, "Well I guess you can go now. You'll be in town for a couple of days?"

As much as Dean wanted to say something that would have been a 'hell no' he replied, "As long as needed but our director may call us back if we have new leads."

It was bullshit but it wasn't like this sheriff would know. Angela raised her brow slightly as she crossed her arms over her chest and managed to look like a badass nurse from hell. Well she looked like you would be tempting death if you messed with her. She glanced at Dean and then the sheriff as he agreed to that arrangement. _And Dean's BS wins again._ She gave a slight smile and said, "Thank you, Sheriff."

"No problem. Are you sure you don't need anything else? You want to talk to Dr. Thompson?"

"No thank you," Angela replied as she smiled while trying not to make it obvious that was the last thing that she wanted to do on this crazy day. She made a slight gesture with her hands praying that Dean would notice and take leave.

Dean got the hint and said, "Thanks a lot sheriff. We'll get to work and try to figure out what is going on." He took Angela by the elbow and sort of pushed her out the door to where the Impala was. It was rather a pitiful sight in that one wheel was sporting a spare that looked like it had seen better days but it was the best that they could do. Once in the car, Dean said, "Alright Angie, it's obvious something's going on."

"Glad you noticed," Angela deadpanned as she rubbed her forehead.

"Sam and me think it's a witch," Dean countered as he turned on the engine.

"It seems that way and I'm not going to deny it. Yet this seems almost…" Angela made a slight face as she looked out the window. A wolf in sheep's clothing streaked by and she had to blink. _I must be going out of my mind._

"It seems like a witch since demons like to get a little more bloody and this doesn't fit any other monster we've ganked so far," Dean countered as he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road to head back to the motel. "Sam's looking through Dad's journal and anything else that might provide a clue."

"Just make sure you went overboard on the usual," Angela replied rubbing her forehead. "I could use a drink."

"Well what you've been through I'm surprised you haven't carried a flask on your hip," Dean replied. "I mean, the whole being able to pull demons out and send them to hell. Must be a new experience." It was a first that he actively mentioned it and it was still a painful reminder of what Sam had been learning to do.

Dean didn't know what made him angrier. For the current mood he was more upset at the fact that Sam was still messing around with Ruby. He was scared at what Sam could do with his mind and he had to admit that it came out more angry than scared. He also was a bit callous with the Rugaru case and knew he was a bit insensitive since his girl was no completely human and that was made clear when Sam pushed her under the bus. Of course Sam was right in that she would know more about what it was like to have that… whatever… inside and she did know what it was like to be completely normal and human one moment and then what she was now.

Angela recognized it as an attempt to be nice about what happened and actually have a chick flick moment. She looked at Dean and replied, "Definitely a new experience but not too different from healing."

"Healing?"

Angela gave a slight sigh. She didn't want to go into this but she recognized that if she laid off the whole incident and came back later to examine it, she would have a clearer head and be able to look at it objectively. She replied, "Exorcising a demon is like pulling poison from a wound. That ability is tied in with my healing mojo. Sending it to hell, I'm sure it is more along the lines of spirit realm manipulation; like dream walking and that kind of thing."

"You make nice hand movements with it."

Angela snorted slightly at that, "Reflection on how I control it. Funny thing is I never attempted it before but now… it's like it was always there. I guess two months in the clink did some semblance of good."

"I wouldn't know about that," Dean replied honestly. He was rather nervous since he had seen her do some scary shit when she was pissed and that was when she didn't use her abilities freely. He was scared that she might hurt herself more than others since he had great trust in her empathy for people even if they were bastards.

"Dean," Angela said as she looked at him, "How do you really feel about it?"

Dean looked forward and made a slight movement that could be taken as agitation that he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "What do you want me to say?"

"The truth."

Dean felt like he was being made to groom up to meet a girl's parents. He didn't do parents in high school and he sure as hell didn't do parents now. He could go with his backup plan and use the puppy face. He looked at her with a slight look.

"I get how you feel about certain things and I try not to be affected by it because I know you don't feel that way about me. Just tell the truth and don't hide behind humor."

Dean sighed as he turned his eyes back to the road. He really didn't want to get into a potential fight over this but she wanted his opinion. "Before I was a chew toy, you didn't use your talents at all unless you were pushed to the extreme. Now when you were fighting that demon after doing your Matrix act, you did whatever you call it without a second thought. It's like you don't… It's scary. It's scary because you probably have super mojo abilities hidden in there and it could pop up without warning."

"I agree it is scary. It was part of the problem in the beginning." Angela gave a slight sigh as she looked forward. "I once told Sam that my empath/telepathic was force tested by the Centurion. Since then I was afraid of using it which was why you got what Ruby called parlor tricks. Being with the Old Man and then the fighting ring… It sort of opened up. I wasn't afraid of what I was and I decided I wasn't going to let it dictate who I was."

"So you don't have a problem about Sam's freaky ass mojo?"

Angela figured that it was going to come to that. "Do you really want my answer on that one?"

"Hey you asked me for the truth. Can you do the same?" Dean looked over at her with a slight look.

"You are honest in your opinion on most things except one; one that I hope you will eventually talk to me about." Angela returned the look with a pointed look in his direction. "As to Sam… you said it was a slippery slope and it can be if you don't have good intentions."

"Yeah but good intentions can lead to bad things. I know that from experience."

"You mean the deal," Angela clarified. "I know that too since I have a long list of fuck ups and a short list of enemies because of it. However good intentions can be a good thing…"

"Seriously?"

"Honestly, I think Cas was a total dick for telling you that Sam was to stop."

"So you think he should be messing with that?" Dean looked over at Angela to get a good look at what she really thought about the whole thing. He had been there when she was thrown in the middle of this.

Angela gave a slight shrug of her shoulders as she replied, "It's a part of him and it's his choice to use them or not use them. I'm not going to tell him what to do. Remember our conversation about letting him jump off the cliff?"

"Angie that can apply to run of the mill decisions like continuing to hunt but this is totally different."

"No it isn't." Angela looked at her hands which were folded in her lap. "Letting someone leap to know if they can fly or not… it applies to every decision in life. It's how we know we are capable of the great things or small things that could make all the difference in life."

Dean couldn't really retort to that except for, "So you're not saying yes or no?"

"Honestly, I have faith in the choices we make." Angela looked at Dean to make her point.

Dean was about to say something when something came out in his path. He braked hard to avoid hitting what was in front of the car. He gripped the wheel tight and prayed that he wasn't going to hit anything. He was lucky that the car stopped and he got a good look at what was crossing the street. He stared and asked, "Angie, was that…?"

Angela nodded, "Pink elephants."

* * *

**A/N:** Another guy ganked and right in front of Angie. She and Dean have a heart to heart regarding Sam's ESP mojo and they get stopped by pink elephants. More next time on The Failed Demon...


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Sam frowned as he looked out the window of the motel room. The day had been strange since the car ran over a fork in the road. The very idea had been considered strange and improbable. It was like someone took a saying literally. He was suspicious about it since it didn't seem like a witch's doing but like Dean had pointed out, they didn't have any evidence that it was a demon's doing. Yet the whole thing didn't speak of a witch… unless the witch was really bad at going at it with the mojo. There was a first time for everything.

At the moment though, he decided to go forward on his researching of the word 'malachi' since he really had nothing else to work on and he was humoring Dean since his brother was still being overprotective and he didn't want to get into a fight. The whole thing about his abilities was still hanging heavy and Dean shut himself off at times especially about hell.

Right now, Sam was looking at a scan of a piece of text that looked like it was Sumerian but the cuneiform was all wrong on some of the words. There was a slight thing that looked like Egyptian hieroglyphs and that had him puzzled when he keyed in 'angel of absolution' on the search. He got several hits and one was one of those sites that was like Hellhounds something that those two goofballs in Texas started. The sad thing was that Sam could admit that it was a whole lot better in its composition… not that he would admit that to Dean.

The others showed something that was related to some subplot in a videogame with spies and assassins, which was, again, ridiculous but like any other research project he had to do whether it was for a hunt or for school, he had to start somewhere and then build on from there. At least he found the scan of what was called the 'table of royalty'. He frowned at the use of the word table and that was a sidetrack to another etymology lesson. That led to some interesting literature on the tables of destiny and a bunch of stuff related to Melchizedek, which had him raise his brow in surprise.

_The world is complex in its connections. Some exist where it seemingly doesn't and they bind us all. Think like the Force; the whole energy field created by all living things that surround and penetrate and bind things together. It's what a shaman explained to me once about healing and how it works._

Sam made a slight twist of his head as he remembered that conversation. It was when he and Angela were hanging out since Dean was on a sexcapade. He had cut himself on a sharp piece of metal and she worked her mojo and one thing led to another and they talked about it. She had dubbed it the six degrees of the supernatural. Granted it was funny at the time, Sam could see her point. It was a bit to get around but he could see how things could be connected. Certainly the word usage of table instead of tablet was something to go by.

The only sticking point was that he had the scan of the tablet and he couldn't really read cuneiform… if this was cuneiform. It was fortunate that there was a link for a translation or a paraphrasing or whatever. Sam clicked on the link and beside the scan, another image popped up with the same tablet except the words were translated into English. _Talk about nifty graphics_, Sam mused.

It was obvious that it was a description of something and as Sam read, he found a few interesting things that had him consider that stray memory of everything was connected on some level. The tablet described a warrior nobility that was founded by royalty and from the bloodlines were the warriors that would defend the world. It was pretty descriptive and almost poetic and Sam marveled at the translation. In his experience, some translations were pretty crappy. He peered at the translation and began to read.

_In the beginning were two blessed with all knowledge of the warrior. A balance of all that existed ordained by He who reigns above. Noble caste from them created to the far reaches of earth. All were noble but they ruled and blessed those who kept their rules of combat…_

Sam paused. This was getting into the weird and definitely freaky. He remembered the phrase rules of combat simply because he had been taught them and it was drilled into his brain like Dad's training. Not to mention that he actually was possessed by one of them for a short time and while not unpleasant, something he wasn't willing to do again.

_ Ruled they did until twice blessed by daughters. The eldest was named and she guards the river of life. See she can into the souls of men and connected to the world of the living. The youngest taken in from the land of Siglione and shall be named a princess in her own right._

_ The warrior royalty shall be carried by the two princesses, one born of blood and one born of the world. They shall be known within their own right as one shall be as the royalty always shall be; worshipped and revered and the other shall be the royalty of earth; revered and hated by ally and enemy._

_ The eldest shall be called as her brethren from royalty descend. Raised above others as equal to the dark ones she will reign. The youngest shall be called Malachi and is bound to the earth as a protector of all. Judgment, justice and absolution shall be her weapon, her companion as she travels the world. She will lead and they will follow to ward off darkness…_

That was the last of the translation and apparently the last of the tablet. It was easy to see that the tablet had been broken. The bottom portion was missing completely and Sam felt a little frustrated. It was like in the middle of reading a good book and you had to put it down for whatever reason. He sat back and studied the screen as he thought about what he had read.

That the royalty were Hapi and Satet, he could guess since they were warrior gods and he did manage to read the story about how they met. It was interesting how they were considered royalty when there were warrior gods in almost every culture around the world. Obviously they were considered special for them to be called that. It looked like they started the nobility which were these warriors that existed and were probably the first Champions.

It did provide some clue as to why Angela was often referred to as the warrior princess. He was making a big assumption that the tablet was talking about her and the physical offspring of the warrior royalty. The assumption came in that the youngest was to be called 'malachi' and it used the proper form of it; like it was to be a name and the fact that the word absolution was used… It was a stretch and it was becoming obvious that Angela had given him a project that was going to force him to dig deeper and do a lot of cross checking.

"Angie you sure have a way of making us work for information," Sam muttered as he bookmarked the page into the file he started. "Six degrees of supernatural… so…"

Sam typed in the search line the name Siglione. He was more familiar with that since he managed to catch a glimpse of the notations on that werewolf cure written by the man himself before Angela locked it away in a hex box. She had mentioned the name too in reference to saying something about Hecate, the supposed mother of witches. The hit he got off the database was different from his first attempt.

It was basic information about Siglione in that he was considered the greatest of healers to exist before the known world. Another turn of phrase that was going to have to take some thought. Sam was able to narrow it down to the fact that Siglione was from where modern day Italy was and was the first to fully explore the degrees of strength of a healer's power and surprisingly and not so surprisingly was the ability to exorcise demons and either send them to hell or kill them.

It was all history text and Sam immediately bookmarked and saved it under a file within the file he created. He wasn't sure of what to go through next and just sat and stared until an idea came to him. He typed in 'earthbound angel' and was about to hit enter when his cell phone rang.

Sighing, Sam looked at the screen while his phone continued to ring. With a decisive movement he hit enter and then he shut the laptop and opened the phone. "Yeah?"

_Sam? Are you okay?_

"Angie? What's wrong?" Sam glanced out the window and noticed that it had gotten dark. He had been researching that long? He didn't even notice that Dean and Angela had been gone that long. It shouldn't have taken this long to pick her up from station… unless Dean decided she needed a drink to mellow out but even that sounded ridiculous.

_Um… I'm not really sure but I need to know if you're okay._

Sam heard the uncertainty in her voice and frowned. Something was up and it seemed like she wasn't even sure about what she was seeing. First thought that she was hallucinating and going off the deep end and becoming a Fallen but he dispelled that. He replied, "I'm fine, Angie. Can you at least tell me that you're okay?"

_I could if I were sure that I wasn't seeing pink elephants and someone taking a long walk off a short pier._

Sam wasn't sure if that was supposed to be sarcasm speaking or even a joke. It sounded serious so he was going to treat it serious. "Is it more like what happened today?"

_Understatement. A guy losing his marbles, a broad with a leg full of pins and needles and a guy blowing a gasket after kicking the bucket I can handle. Hell I can even take your fork in the road but…_

Sam realized that she wasn't making too much sense since she was rattling off idioms like it was nothing. It was nothing like their quote game and it struck Sam that something was really wrong with this whole picture. "Where's Dean?"

_Having a sex on the beach._

As funny as it sounded, Sam's mind was made up. It was bad enough they were in a motel that made reference to one of Dean's favorite films. This was starting to sound like the crazy train went overboard. He knew that he had to at least find her so he asked, "Okay. So where are you exactly? At a bar?"

_Bar called the Kennel Club. Don't ask._

"Okay. I'll be there."

_Take your time. I'm getting the feeling that this may get ugly._

Sam made up his mind to get there as quickly as possible. "Okay. I'll be there."

_Oh and Sam?_

"What?"

_ Don't think of any idioms or play on words._

It was a strange request but Sam was willing to go with it. He picked up his jacket and put his cell in his pocket. He paused to pick up the Desert Eagle she had given him before and as an afterthought, picked up her knife and her Beretta. They were loaded for any possible fugly so better safe than sorry. He left the room unaware that he had been watched the whole time by someone interested in what he was researching.

Castiel watched as the youngest Winchester went about the room while talking to his charge. He had arrived when he sensed the confusion and distress only to discover that Dean was there and he backed off to see how the relationship was between them. When they got into the car, he went to check on the younger one and observed him as he went about his research.

It had been a surprise somewhat to see that Sam had been looking into the Malachi of Absolution. He was unaware that it was part of a challenge that she had set Sam on and observed intently the connections that he made from his choice of words that he inputted. He was surprised that Sam had managed to find the translation of the table of royalty. What Sam came to in his conclusions, Castiel didn't know.

Being curious, Castiel opened the laptop and examined the contents. He noted the key words earthbound angel and saw the search results. Castiel noted the results and saw that there was just one hit. Eyeing it with a bland face, he used one finger to shut the laptop. He took a look around before he was gone.

* * *

It was somewhat a relief to Angela to know that she wasn't the only one that had been making connections between the things going on in this town even if they were bizarre or worse, just plain crazy. She wasn't sure drinking was going to help matters but she could understand Dean's need to mellow out just a little while he made sense of what he just saw. After the pit, this was nothing but she wasn't going to say that.

Dean had pulled up to a bar that had her raise her brow and wondering if anything was going to happen if she just looked at it. The bar's name, Kennel Club, didn't inspire much confidence in the day being better and she spent a good minute or so looking around half expecting to see a bunch of dogs around the place. She relaxed a little when she sat with Dean at the bar just as he ordered a couple of beers.

"Please tell me that was real Angie," Dean said as he took a sip.

Angela toyed with her beer, not sure how to make it easier to digest. She held the beer and replied, "It was real and believe me my mind was going on overdrive as I was putting the pieces together."

Dean hissed in a whisper, "Pink elephants?"

Thinking about it now made it seem funny even though a few other expressions had been deadly. She cleared her throat and replied, "Well… it is what people see when they are drunk as a skunk." She closed her eyes feeling like she had stuck her foot in her mouth again.

As it were, one of the bar patrons fell off his stool at the far end of the bar. It was followed by a pungent smell and it had Angela wrinkling her nose. "Great. Sorry Dean."

Dean didn't smell it at first but then he caught a whiff and made a face. "Damn."

"Sorry but that's what's been happening all day."

"What exactly are you taking about?" Dean was making waving motions to get the smell away as he took another sip of his beer. He looked around and noticed a couple of dogs wandering around and raised his brow.

"Idioms are coming to life."

"That sounds stupid," Dean replied as he looked at Angela. She had abandoned her beer while he continued to drink his. "How can idiots come to life if they already are alive?"

"Not idiots. Idioms… schmuck," Angela retorted in a low voice as she looked around. The smell was still around and it was pungent in her nose but it seemed that it had gone down since it didn't seem to bother the other patrons that were sitting in the bar. She grabbed her beer and downed a sizeable gulp like it was whiskey. That would have been the preference. "They're sayings… things that shouldn't be taken literally; double meanings… think about it."

Dean did think about it. "You mean… that Harold…"

"Yep," Angela replied not looking at Dean. She focused on the mirror above the bar. It gave her a good view of the rest of the bar.

"The next time I see you, you'll be pushing up daisies."

"Take a long walk off a short pier."

_Great. Curses to my hearing._ Angela looked at Dean to see if he heard what was being said and it appeared that he didn't. He was still mulling over what her saw. She kept an eye out while she said, "Whatever this is... it's taking harmless expressions and bringing them to life. Though the hex marked tree branch doesn't fit unless it was a bad rendition of making like a tree and leave."

"Hex marked tree?"

"I think it was supposed to fall on me but it missed. No big deal."

Dean looked at Angela and said, "That is a big deal. That means we are dealing with a witch since the thing was marked."

Angela was going to say something when a strawberry blonde walked up to Dean and started flirting with him. She knew that Dean had an ego to stoke when it came to pretty girls. This one was no exception. She gave a slight smile as Dean started paying attention to the girl while she turned to observe the rest of the bar. So far nothing was happening.

"You know I was watching you and thought you could use a stiffer drink than the beer you were drinking." The girl smiled at Dean and actually showed a set of dimples that was enough to melt any guy in that bar.

Angela gave a slight roll of her eyes as she looked around. It was then that she saw one of the guys that had been having a verbal spat with another started to act strangely. She frowned a little as the guy started walking along the area where there were tables raised up on a platform or something. It made the place look like a sports bar.

She watched as he walked. Once he got to the edge, he acted like he was still walking. He ended up falling down the stairs and when he landed, he didn't move. She was on her feet and heading towards him. She checked for a pulse to find that there was none. No surprise there.

"Sex on the beach?"

Angela turned her head the moment she heard Dean say that. When she did, he was no longer there. There was a crash and she saw some mail guy who had come in push an envelope across the counter and his hand blew off. He died instantly from the blood loss. Her eyes opened wide as she wildly searched for Dean and shouted at the bar tender to call 9-1-1.

That was not going to happen since the bartender was nowhere in sight. She looked around and noticed dogs coming in and rolled her eyes. Of course because the place was called the Kennel Club and hence the dogs. That was funny and she was being sarcastic in her mind since that seemed to stop her from looking at everything like it was going to hell and she knew a thing or two about that.

It really took to the weird when she actually saw pigs flying through the place. This was just totally absurd and definitely something that out of Lewis Carroll's imagination. At least she wasn't seeing an opium smoking caterpillar. She knew she wasn't drunk since alcohol didn't do that and the vicodin would have worn off by now. She was on regular pain pills and her 'regimen'.

She focused though on looking for Dean and was alarmed that she couldn't find him. She had a vague idea and if it was as she thought, they were too far away to get to him and she didn't know if Dean had his cell. He should though and it was worth a shot. She pulled out her phone and managed to duck as a flying pig swooped down really close and it was being chased by a dog. She sidestepped as she listened to the phone ring.

_Angie?_

"Dean, where are you? You disappeared," Angela replied as she ducked behind the counter to avoid more show dogs and frowned as she saw someone licking someone's boots and their ears were literally burning. Someone burst in and was chased by someone brandishing a whip and telling them that they were to keep moving.

_On some dumbass beach. Get me out of here._

"Dean what did you say or do?"

_I didn't do nothing._

"Dean, calm down," Angela replied as she thought that was pretty sage advice considering that she was feeling ready to scream bloody murder. She quickly checked that thought so nothing would happen. "You must have said something, do something or even thought about it and it happened. Think."

_I was just talking to that hot blonde chick and she asked about a sex on the beach._

Angela gave a slight eye roll. That was just perfect. "Dean, I think you were had in this… whatever it is. Are you having sex on the beach?"

_Hell no. I don't swing that way._

Angela frowned at that. "Dean?"

_Angie, just work your freaky ass mojo and get me the hell out of here. I don't do guys._

Angela rubbed her forehead trying not to laugh. That was funny yes but it wasn't funny for Dean. She did hear him say 'a sex on the beach' and she could see how that got all twisted though she was sure that it was a fluke. She peered outside the window and saw someone whose hand was stuck in a mailbox and the flag was up. The poor schmuck was trying to shake it off but he couldn't. _Mailed fist. Hardy har, har._ "Dean can you at least tell me where you're at?"

_I'm on a friggin ass beach and some douche surfer blonde is trying to have sex with me! Do you think I would know?_

"Anything to give me a clue." It was hard trying not to laugh.

_The whole thing is fake but there's sand and palm trees and water so there. Get me out or hell, send Cas._

It was desperate sounding on the other end and Angela knew that it wasn't going to go well if she didn't figure something out. Dean was just going to have to suffer until she figured out the who and the what. "Just… hold on Dean."

It was then she caught the faint scent. It was so faint that she had missed it. It didn't help that the guy who was drunk as a skunk really stank up the whole place. She turned him on his side so he wouldn't drown in his own vomit as she shooed a dog away. She followed the scent to where the blonde had been sitting with Dean and took a good long sniff. The result had her eyes flicker in recognition.

_I'm not going to hold on. Angie, get this freak ass away from me!_

Angela shook her head in recognition and a startling realization. She said, "Dean, you're gonna have to hold on. I gotta chase a demon."

_Chase a demon? What the hell?_

"Dean, it's a demon. Let me get Sam." She hung up on him and dialed Sam's number. She really felt like an idiot on this one. It was a relief when she got a hold of Sam and started talking to him, aware that she was sounding like a babbling fool. At least he said that he was coming over. Before he hung though, she said, "Don't think of any idioms or play on words."

It was all she could say as she went to look at the chaos. She knew it would sound weird but she trusted Sam to follow her advice. She went to make some order out of this mess and possible fix a few things.

* * *

**A/N:** Looks like the party is getting started and poor Dean is caught in the web. What will happen next? Stay tuned for more of The Failed Demon...


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Crowley sat back and howled with laughter as he watched the replay that was showing on his screen. He knew that Katherine had the makings of a demon. She just had a different way about doing it. That exploding head though was a classic in his book.

One of the benefits about being the king of the crossroads was that he had access to surveillance and was able to call in a couple of favors. They were able to broadcast everything she was up to and they recorded it for posterity and to hell with the dragon in Archives. So Crowley spent most of the time, aside from the deals he was making, watching the replays of what was going on in that town.

The biggest surprise was that his sweetheart was there to witness it and the look on her face… it was priceless. She literally saw someone's head explode after kicking the bucket. And who said that those stupid sayings were worthless. Crowley had to congratulate himself since he did take Katherine aside and told her to literally have fun.

There were a few others that he got a good laugh at. He saw what was happening to good ole Dean and thought that she was really being creative. Like Cary, he sort of understood the workings of Katherine's mind which was why he created the puppy patrol. He had seen how Dean was suckered in to her charms and now was actually regretting saying anything.

"Any progress?"

Crowley looked up to see Lilith storming into his office looking ready to peel the skin off some poor sap's bones. He made a slight face as he looked at her and replied, "The field report you have to wait for like everyone else. If you want to know, take a look."

Lilith walked around the desk to get a look at what Crowley was looking at. She looked at him, "You pulled resources from surveillance?"

"I figured that a visual look at what the puppy division can do would be beneficial since you are so keen that a certain earth bound angel would smite her," Crowley replied.

Lilith looked at Crowley before studying the computer screen. It was broken up like a security view screen would be with camera angles established; just like any other surveillance job. She saw one screen in a constant replay and saw that Absolution was there watching some meat's head explode after kicking a bucket. The live feed was showing people running around and screaming 'bloody murder' and one was walking around with his fist in a mailbox and couldn't seem to get it out. She looked at Crowley and asked, "This is what that thing from puppy division is doing?"

"Pretty good I think. Some poor schmucks get a nice ticket to the other side and they are strange enough to draw the Winchesters and their pet to the town and investigate. As you can see, one is already suffering from that," Crowley replied as he pointed to the screen that was showing Dean Winchester running from someone while on a beach.

Lilith couldn't see at first what was funny about that until the one chasing Dean revealed themselves to be a guy and he was crooning after Dean. She got what it was and started chuckling. That was pretty funny. The exploding head she had to admit was good since she had a few minions that could do that. "Alright it is good but why the…" She motioned at the screen.

"Like Cary said, this particular employee needs to have it kept simple. Plus it takes a special know-how to be able to get her to succeed in her cases."

"You told her something didn't you?"

Crowley gave a slight blow on his fingernails and then buffed them on his suit lapel. "Did you really think that I would let her walk away after you talked to her? Particularly after your talk about possibly killing the Winchesters?"

"You fiend."

"You may be upper management love, but I am king of the crossroads. You didn't appoint me to be your right hand man for nothing." Crowley gave a pointed look at Lilith. He studied her as he positioned his hands like he was going to sit and study an interesting specimen. "I made it simple and told her to have fun. An employee like Katherine has to be handled in a certain manner. That she is loyal to the company is not in dispute. The manner in which she carries out her job is left to debate and if done correctly, it can prove profitable."

"As amusing as it is to see Dean being chased by a sex crazed male, I would rather have it a bit more bloody," Lilith pouted. Normally she would have unleashed her wrath had it been anyone else but Crowley that talked to her like that. Cary was another exception since he was the best at what he did in his division and she did rather like the little worm.

"Katherine will deliver. She is unconventional but there are a few things that she can do that are rarely seen. As I said, it takes a special kind of handling to get her to do exactly what you want to happen." Crowley gave a patronizing look as he motioned with his hands. "If you want more blood and a fight, it will happen. Absolution will give it."

"I don't want Absolution dead. I want her broken."

"I don't think that's about to happen anytime soon. The angel's pet warrior princess has changed. Surely you must have noticed or are you too busy trying to locate the next seal you want to break?"

Lilith scowled as she looked at Crowley. She didn't see any difference. She saw the same overprotective bitch that had power but was afraid to use it. Well she couldn't lie that she was concerned about a couple of new abilities that cropped up when Jade called her to Kansas City and that whole thing. Absolution had gained a few powers and she used them readily and that told Lilith that wherever she had disappeared to had some effect on her. That was perfect since the plan required that Absolution be more developed than what she was.

"You know, I know a few aquariums that have a couple of seals for you to break."

Lilith deepened the scowl at Crowley. He had to remind her of _that_. She replied, "The seal I want is particularly difficult to find and the bastard who would know aren't talking."

"Maybe you need to ask them nicely. It is professional courtesy after all," Crowley mocked her knowing full well that the ones that did know would rather suffer torture and die than reveal a seal. Well at least Katherine was doing what she was supposed to do. She was keeping the Winchesters and company from getting too interested in the seals.

"Professional courtesy only extends to within the company since the inquiries were made of the other side," Lilith replied through gritted teeth.

"Still professional courtesy is required. Though maybe you should consider a consultant in this area," Crowley replied, enjoying that he was pushing Lilith's buttons. He was risking serious dismemberment or worse if he continued to agitate her but he had already done so with the favors he had done for his sweetheart. Thinking about it, he would do it again and only because he liked his sweetheart.

"Consultant?"

"No one can do everything. Of course you know that. That's why you have the riffraff doing the grunt work for you."

"I do my share."

"Of course because you're upper management. We really do have a cushy job," Crowley mocked. He had it good but he still put his hand in the pot to get the job done. He liked the occasional grunt work and he did believe that if you wanted something important done right, you did it yourself unless you had a very competent right hand man.

"Don't be a piss ant."

"It's what I do best," Crowley replied. "Even Absolution thought I was an ass when I tried to sweet talk her. The nice thing was she didn't try to gank my ass the moment I showed my face."

Lilith studied Crowley. That was just like him to poach on her preserves considering that they were both after the same thing. She couldn't deny it though that the man did have a way of getting attention and keeping the more serious end of business away until his piece was said. Cary was the same way when he wanted to be and it seemed to work. She looked at the screen and noticed her 'favorites' had met up and were talking.

"So you know a means of getting the location?"

"I know a consultant," Crowley replied emphasizing that he had someone in mind to do the job. It was obvious in his mind that he had a way of persuading certain reluctant parties to let him get a corner on the market depending on what the current interest is. He did have an idea and if it was what he thought Lilith wanted then there was going to be some interesting fun along the way.

"Fine," Lilith snapped. "You have a consultant. Can he persuade the reluctant parties to reveal the location of the seal?"

"Katherine can help in that regard. She did find you a seal." Crowley was being an ass on purpose since it was a lot of fun to get Lilith riled up. He could understand the appeal of it to his sweetheart when she would shoot at him. He was pissed but he rather liked it since it did reveal a bit of an aggressive side to her.

"Don't be an idiot. You know I am referring to a different kind of seal," Lilith replied as her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Can they do it?"

"Of course. Let's just say that the consultant I know of has a way of making outside parties do the dirty work in the name of good. Saves trouble and provides entertainment in terms of betrayal and other things that the walking meat suits angst over." Crowley gave a bit of a shrug of his shoulders as if it didn't matter what she decided. Even though his job was in the hands of upper management for now, he wasn't going to let it dictate his work. He had a backbone and his sweetheart knew it and he knew about hers which was why he was amused at her reaction to Katherine's blood display.

Lilith eyed Crowley with suspicion since she could guess that he might be up to something. "You already know where it is, don't you?"

"I know as much as you, princess, which is squat for the moment," Crowley replied with a straight face. It was how he was able to get anything done. He never revealed his hand especially when it was a high stakes match. "I just happen to know associates that know me and we have a business relationship."

Lilith glared at the demon. She really wanted to strangle Crowley but because of his standing, she had the ability to cause chaos within crossroads. The sales associates took their cues from him and he was good at enforcing the red tape. He did literally write the book on crossroad deals, which she considered a slight embarrassment since she was the first. "You do know something."

"I know that you want to pink slip my puppy division director and yet here surveillance is providing evidence that she is pretty effective," Crowley replied, steering the conversation back towards Katherine. The rudiments of a plan were forming and already working on the first draft of a project proposal.

Lilith shot a gimlet eye at Crowley as she went back to surveying the demon in question and her work. She did have to admit that puppy division within crossroads did have good results even though they were borderline absurd. She was amused at Dean's predicament. "Well if puppy division can really screw with the Winchesters and kill them in the process or at least maim them, then I will consider contracting the division for more special projects."

"Well puppy division will be pleased." Crowley gave the pretense of a smile and it sounded sarcastic as was his usual demeanor.

Lilith turned to look at Crowley, "And you will contract your consultant. This seal I really want." She laid a file on Crowley's desk. "Here is the information. You will see why it is important." She stood up straight to take her leave. She started towards the door and paused just as she put her hand on the knob, "Oh and Crowley, report directly to me on this."

Crowley made a slight face of suspicion as Lilith left. He put his hand on the file and studied the door to his office. "Oh I will report what you want Lilith but I think that I will try a few things." He opened the file and began to read.

* * *

Dean knew that hell was preferable to the misery he was being made to suffer. He didn't swing that way and he made it clear to anybody that was listening… even if she wasn't able to do anything about it now. Thinking about it, he felt ridiculous demanding that Angela do something to get him out of his predicament and yet he felt better doing it.

The last thing that seemed to make any sense was that he was talking to the strawberry blonde who came over and decided to flirt with him. He thought she was hot and potentially a bright side to the fact that he had actually seen pink elephants.

The flirting was his usual and he was able to ignore the fact that he was not paying attention to Angela. He figured that she would mellow out after a couple of beers and the like. He knew she wouldn't get drunk but get enough whiskey she became mellow. She still had good reflexes but she appeared lethargic and ready to move forward. The next thing he knew, the blonde was asking him if he wanted a sex on the beach and explained that it was her favorite drink.

He had asked, "A sex on the beach?"

The next minute or second, he found himself on a beach. The scenery looked like he was in Hawaii with the clear water and the white sandy beach and some palm trees. He could even hear seagulls shooting their beaks off and he was sitting on a beach chair. It was cool; something that he could dream about but what happened next had him in this… whatever.

He couldn't make out who it was at first because of the glare of the sun until they moved in and spoke. That had Dean bolt upright in his seat and he was on his feet. The guy that came crooning that he wanted to make Dean feel good and he kept coming and Dean went with instinct: he ran.

It didn't take long for Dean to figure out that wherever he was; it looked big but it was actually small. There were only so many places that he could hide and avoid the surfer douche that wanted to do… He couldn't even think about it. He so did not swing that way. It was some relief that Angela called but it didn't help that his demands were unrealistic.

It felt like he was running in circles and the scenery just changed until he fell and actually rolled down a sandy hill. When he stood up, he was in a cage. _Great, like that is original. I hope I don't see any ghosts._

"You actually look rather cute in there Dean."

Dean didn't touch the bars since he didn't want to think what that would do. He did look to see that blonde chick as she stood looking amused at him and she was leaning against the surfer douche. The strange thing was that the guy looked like Sam in terms of the long goldilocks but other than that, he was a douchebag. He replied, "What is it? My perky nipples?"

The blonde smirked at Dean. She snapped her fingers. "You are rather amusing."

Dean felt his chest poke and looked down. He had to open his big mouth. "What the hell?"

"You were the one that said you had perky nipples."

Dean did his best to ignore the fact that his nipples were actually being perky. He glared at the blonde. "Okay I get the idioms crap. I'm sure it was funny to you when a guy lost his marbles and another blew a head gasket when he kicked the bucket."

"That seems to amuse almost everyone. The funny thing is that the people involved are so easy to draw in and then business can be conducted. Of course a few mishaps are to occur along the way. I mean I was supposed to catch a dhampir that was a water manipulator in Missouri and I ended up with a dhampir that can move things. The things that can happen with surveillance…"

"Wait a minute," Dean replied as he rubbed his nipples to ease the soreness, "That was you that dug that stupid hole and then tried to gang up on my girl?"

"Sure didn't look like she was yours. The tall fellow that was like a puppy seemed to like her enough." She then turned and started pacing while taking amusement in the sand. She glanced occasionally at Dean.

Dean knew that she was talking about and he didn't like it at all. "So you're the demon that attacked them?"

The blonde giggled and closed her eyes. When she opened them, they showed the familiar inky black. She smiled at Dean.

"Meg?"

"Katherine."

Dean made a scoffing noise at that. Like he really cared to know who it was. The only other demon he knew that actually wanted to kill him and messed with his brother was Meg. Cary didn't count since that was Angela's thing and the bastard was a stoolie or a worm as she called him. Ruby he wanted to kill even though he could admit she saved his ass a few times.

Even though Dean hated being restrained, he was grateful that the bars put some distance between him and the douchey surfer dude. He definitely did _not _like how the guy was looking at him the way he looked at his pie. He instead focused on the demon that was looking at him with a curious expression and asked, "So what do you want?"

Katherine looked at Dean. _So this is the one that broke the first seal. No wonder Miss Lilith wants to keep him distracted and she wants the younger one dead._ She thought Dean to be something fascinating as she replied, "Oh nothing more than to provide a case. Maybe kill Sam Winchester in the process."

Dean noticed that she looked distracted but that was nothing compared to the fierce protectiveness that arose, "You touch my brother and I will gank your ass you bitch."

Katherine looked up and locked eyes on Dean. She moved her head side to side as if to study him like a curious little puppy. "Why so grumpy Dean? You should be happy that you fell in with a fantasy of yours."

Dean looked at the demon as if she were crazy. Most demons respond in the usual fashion with a threat of their own or something else that was typically demon. Here this one was asking him why he was unhappy. Wasn't it obvious? The bitch just threatened to kill his brother… like that was ever going to happen considering that Angela would probably smite the whole place with some unknown superpower of hers before that would happen.

"Well Dean. Didn't you agree to this?"

This was starting to sound like he made a crossroad deal and Dean was certain that he didn't. Who the hell was this demon? He decided that the best way to get answers was to play along for a time. It seemed that she might respond to that. That meant that he had to pretty much behave like Sam would when they did one of their covers. He admitted, "Okay I admit to a fantasy of doing on a beach but with a hot girl and not some douched up surfer jock."

"Well you did say 'a sex on the beach'." Katherine looked at Dean as if she still couldn't get why he wasn't happy with his little distraction. "Did that necessarily mean a female?"

Dean paused a bit. It was like Angela had been saying about those idioms and it looked like a play on words too. No wonder she sounded like she was babbling when he picked her up at the station. His girl figured it out and it sounded like she was going crazy with them. The perks and downsides to having two geeks as partners and family. He gave a slight nod as if to concede that the demon had a point, "Alright I'll admit that you got me there but a hexed tree? That sounds like something out of a cartoon."

"Poorly timed," Katherine replied with a disappointed sigh. "Much like the hole in Missouri. That was poorly executed and I noted that in my report."

"Look the only reason that hole failed was because you didn't dig it deep enough and besides…" Dean gave a know-it-all smirk. He couldn't help it since he had that much confidence and he had witnessed firsthand when someone got on Angela's bad side. "… Angie would see it coming from a mile away."

"I heard that she has the eyes of a hawk. I wonder if it is true," Katherine mused.

Dean dropped the smirk. He really was going to have to watch what he said around this demon. If this demon took idioms literally, then he could say something that would ultimately do more harm than good. He might end up killing Sam or Angela or something equally bad. The last thing he said wasn't all that bad was it? It was true that Angela did have the ability to see things that were often easily missed but that was more along the lines of training to observe what people missed. Hell she told him that. Yet thinking about it, it occurred to Dean that it could have a deadly twist to it and he really didn't want to think about that possibility. "Well she is good at finding things," he said lamely since it was on the tip of his tongue to say something that could be taken the wrong way.

"Oh hide and seek. That would be interesting but that would mean that the puppy following her would need to play too." Katherine was frowning lost in thought even though she was listening to everything that Dean was saying.

_Great. Though it is nice to see that someone else thinks of Sam that way._ It really wasn't the time or the place but Dean couldn't help it. "Um that is probably not a good idea. Angie may be good at finding things but if you mess with her… that's just asking for trouble."

Katherine turned her attention towards Dean and studied him. It made Dean feel a little uncomfortable with her looking at him like that. Angela did the same thing when she was trying to get to the bottom of things and sort the fib from the truth but the demon had less warmth. It was creepy. She then said, "Absolution has eyes like a hawk. Finding things… very interesting."

Dean was certain that trouble was coming. "Hey, don't mess with her. That's like asking an angel to smite your ass."

"The earth bound angel can find it. Yes I believe she can." Katherine turned to walk away. She paused a moment before snapping her fingers. "Perky nipples are boring but have fun with your sex on the beach."

Dean realized that the cage was gone and there was nothing to put space between him and the crazy guy. He backed up when the guy started forward. It turned to a full on run and it was back to being chased. _Fuck this. Angie, please figure something out and get me out of here!_

* * *

**A/N:** Crowley and Lilith have a moment and Dean talks to Katherine before getting another run at the surfer douche. I hope he didn't say anything to cause trouble... Find out more on The Failed Demon...


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Sam thought they were in the land of crazy the moment the door to the Kennel Club opened and Angela poked her head out. She looked like she was looking to see if someone was going to take a sniper shot at her before she motioned for Sam to come in. "Angie, what is going on?"

Angela didn't answer right away. She looked to see if there were more idioms walking around. While waiting for Sam, she managed to gather in the ones that happened to come by and tried to rectify the problems that were easily fixable. The ones that weren't, well at least they were off the street but that wasn't going to be an easy one to explain with the authorities.

While she was looking she felt something tick in her eyes. She blinked thinking that something was in her eyes. She normally would brush it off but after what happened before when she was literally blind, she was a bit more careful. She was aware that she couldn't hound watch her every step because that could lead to accidents. She was just going to be more careful if something didn't feel right about the situation. So she was really making an effort to take better care of herself and that was after Sam was persistent in that.

Angela rubbed her eyes and squinted around. She found that she was able to see things at a distance and she frowned at it. She could make out a bug moving on a tree about twenty feet away and she could count the markings. She didn't have to say it to know that someone said something. She had a vague idea about it and made a harrumph sound as she went back in the bar and shut the door. She was going to have a long talk with Dean later.

Sam was looking around and frowning in that puzzled way of his as he noted the flying pigs which were content to stay near a chandelier light fixture. There were dogs everywhere. A bag was in the corner and cats were coming out of it and heading into another bag. Some people were passed out from what they had been through though Sam had pity for the guy who couldn't seem to get his hand out of the mail box. He could say that a window could be opened for the couple of drunk guys lying on their sides near the back. They really stank.

He came across one guy who looked like he drowned near the edge of a raised platform and asked, "What happened to this one?"

"Long walk off a short pier," Angela replied as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. Her eyes felt peculiar and while it was nice that she could see even better, she wasn't used to it and it gave her a headache. It was one of those things where she hoped that something like Castiel's angel mojo would be able to fix.

Sam looked around. Certainly this qualified for the hall of weird or something like that. He then saw something that had him point at it and ask, "Is that?"

Angela looked at what he was pointing at. She nodded and replied, "Yep. Stick up his ass." She gave a slight sigh and started walking around. The guy who had his hand blown off she was able to get to the hospital as well as the guy with the mailed fist. At least there they could get the mailbox off. The other guy was just going to have to get through it. "Now you can see why I would rather you see than have me talk. I sound like a crazy nut."

Sam gave a slight shrug at that since he thought she was babbling when she called and he felt like an idiot. He replied, "I can see why. It's a bit different from the game we like to play to annoy Dean."

Angela made a slight smile as she wrinkled her nose to check on the drunks. They were going to be passed out for a while but at least they were where no one was going to gag at the stench. It wasn't as bad as when it first happened but there still was the stench and she had smelt skunk before and boy do _they_ stink. She replied, "You don't need to sugar coat it Sam. This is weird I know and the strange part is that we aren't dealing with a witch at all."

"Come again?"

Angela finished and walked towards the bar and fished out a couple of beers. She couldn't get drunk but this was a bit hard to digest. She put them on the counter and said, "We aren't dealing with a witch. This is the work of a demon."

Sam accepted the beer. It probably wasn't a good idea but considering what he was seeing and the fact that Angela looked a bit more relaxed drinking alcohol… One wouldn't hurt. "You're saying a demon did all this."

"Yep."

"So making idioms and phrases literal actually is the work of a demon."

"Yep and it is the same demon that dug the hole in Missouri and tried to gank me with a hexed tree." Angela replied as she took a sip of the beer she had opened for herself. "I got it after that guy blew a gasket after… kicking the bucket." She gave a snort and pinched the bridge of her nose since her eyes were not doing what they were supposed to do. She definitely needed to talk to Dean about tact. How she knew he gave the demon the idea, she wasn't sure except for the fact that he was not here and the girl he had been flirting with was a demon. That certainly was going to go over well with Sam.

"Okay so why this town?"

"No idea but I can say that she was the one that took Dean."

"She? It took Dean? Where?"

"A sex on the beach," Angela replied while schooling her features into a serious expression. She knew what went on with that and it was something that she would love to hold over Dean's head if she was sure that it wasn't going to end up deadly.

Sam put two and two together on the sex on the beach part and gave a slight roll of his eyes. "That wasn't so bad right?"

"Not if you were getting chased by a gay douchebag surfer dude."

"Eww."

"I know," Angela replied making a slight face. "And I think Dean had a talk with her because something is not right with my eyes." She rubbed the bridge of her nose as her eyes tried to adjust to the fact that she wasn't in the air and flying and instead was on the ground.

Sam grew concerned as he watched her pinch her brow. It was a bad reminder of her battle with Tiamat since she couldn't see and she had pinched her brow in the same manner. _Please don't tell me Dean said that phrase._ He asked, "What is it?"

"When I was looking outside, I could see a bug on a tree about twenty meters away and actually count how many markings were on its exoskeleton. It was a beetle by the way and one of those big ones." Angela gave a slight smirk and half a laugh as she rubbed her brow. "Problem is I think it was meant for being in the air and up high or it is not working like it should."

Sam gave a nod. So it seemed that Dean made reference to her sight like seeing like a hawk. So the similes were in play too and there were tons of those too. So one had to be really careful of what was said within the presence of this demon. That pretty much cut Dean's vocabulary in half since he liked using similes and other expressions. The part though about something not being right, it had him thinking. He fished a penlight out of his jacket pocket and said, "Let me take a look."

"A look at what?"

"Please Angie. Let me look at your eyes."

Angela wasn't being difficult on purpose. Her mind was more focused on how to catch this demon and convince it to stop what it was doing and basically make everything go back to normal. She got the feeling that they were dealing with something that was not the conventional demon. So deep she was in thought that she didn't hear Sam completely until he repeated his request. She moved so he had a better look. "Alright, alright."

Sam gently used his fingers to open her eyes to get a better look at the pupil and iris. He apologized as he shown the penlight in them to look at the reaction. He did it several times and finally released her eye. "Sorry about that. What you said had me thinking."

"About what?" Angela closed her eye and rubbed it a little. She felt like she was seeing spots.

"Well you do have eyes like a hawk's… literally."

"Nice one Sherlock."

Sam made a slight face. "Cut me some slack Angie. I think the problem is because of your night vision. The spell or whatever didn't work quite as well for you and you're having some problems."

"Spell gone wrong. That helps. Well I guess I won't be reading the Latin and drawing sigils." Angela finished her beer and tossed the bottle into the trash can that was within easy throwing distance. Well it was easy according to what she could see at the moment. She watched as it sailed across the room and into the bin. "Three points."

Sam watched and noticed that her judging of distance was still good and probably even better if it weren't for the fact that it was conflicting with what was already in existence. "Um yeah. So Angie what do you mean by the drawing sigils? You mean to summon the demon here?"

"Either that or track it. We have to catch her if we are going to fix this." Angela rubbed her forehead a bit. The ache was dulling now that she had a beer in her system. "Other than that, I don't have any other ideas."

Sam felt a bit bad as he watched her shrug her shoulders and move to step outside. He looked around and followed her out and found her just staring off in the distance and he could see what she was looking at. He couldn't blame her for doing a double blink. At least seeing pink elephants was a step up from a literal fork in the road.

"Just like a puppy."

Sam turned around to see a strawberry blonde girl looking at him with a curious expression. He looked at the girl and asked, "Excuse me?"

"You follow her like a puppy. It's cute."

Sam frowned at the expression and wasn't sure if he should back away from the girl or not. Yeah Angela would say strange things like that but she was funnier and there was something off about this one. "Okaay."

"Relax Sam. I find that rather endearing. It always seems to be that way when puppies follow the pretty lady."

Sam started to back slowly away while reaching for the demon killing knife. He really was feeling uncomfortable around this person and he suspected that this might be the demon they were looking for. He really didn't like being called a puppy and that wasn't the way of things in his and Dean's relationship with Angela. "I really don't think that is how you describe it and how do you know my name?"

"Oh your name pops up occasionally by the water cooler and I read your file. I must say though that the photo hardly does you justice… but that's surveillance for you."

Sam made a slight face as he continued to back away. "Right."

"Relax Sam. I only want to talk to you. I'm sure that you're much better with your word choice than Dean."

That was a poor move since it was instinct to react if something could possibly turn out worse when it regarded his family. Sam narrowed his eyes as his hand wrapped around the handle of the knife. "What did you do with Dean?"

"Gave him what he wanted: a sex on the beach."

"Right and that worked out," Angela's voice entered as she managed to get to a point between Sam and the demon. Her eyes were flickering as they focused on the demon. She had managed to get some semblance of control over what the demon did to her eyes. "Where is Dean?"

The demon flickered her eyes in reaction to Angela's. She looked at her and took a good look at her eyes and gave a gasp of surprise. "You are beautiful."

Both Sam and Angela frowned at that and for different reasons but somewhere along the line they were the same. It was enough to distract them though and Angela found a hand on her. She looked and saw the demon next to her and was about to say something and she heard Sam say something and Sam was gone and she was alone with the demon. That was just perfect.

* * *

Dean ran around a few trees when he ran full on into the guy chasing him. "Craptastic," he muttered as he backed off and started brushing off his person. It was difficult since he was walking backwards and on sand.

The guy was advancing towards him and saying, "You know you want it."

"Yeah like I want to get humped by a douche surf bum," Dean replied warning the guy back with a hand. "No offense but long hair is a major turn off."

"You do like foreplay."

Dean tried not to make too much of a face at that. He was so glad that Sam wasn't here to see this. He wasn't going to live this down. He became adamant and replied, "Hey, I don't swing that way and I don't want foreplay or anything."

"Ooo I like it when they get all aggressive."

"Don't even think about it." Dean warned. He put his hands up and decided to take a swing if the guy decided to try something.

"Oh yeah. Hit me baby."

It sounded funny but it wasn't to Dean. He gave a punch and it felt like he had hit solid iron and he couldn't help but make a face at that. He turned to cradle his hand and shake off the pain. That was a mistake since the guy wrapped his arms around him, pinning his arms while the guy gave a hug that had Dean wanting to throw up. It was made worse when the guy leaned in close and whispered into his ear. Dean didn't listen to what was being said even though he heard it. He just wanted the guy's paws off of him.

"Aww. You know you want it."

"Get your hands off or I'll…" The threat died on Dean's lips since he wasn't even sure about what he was going to do since the guy was like rock solid. He was sure that he broke something in his hand. Anything he said in terms of a threat would come off as being the aggressive one in this crap.

The next thing he knew, Dean felt his chest and cheek being pushed against at tree. He grunted and tried to push off the tree but he was pinned. He could feel the guy's hands but before they reached any place that was off limits, the weight that was pressing on him was gone.

Dean looked around frowning and trying to figure out what the hell happened. He turned to find the gay surfer pinned on the ground and he couldn't move. He looked around and saw a beautiful sight. "Thank God you're here Angie. Where's Sam?"

* * *

Angela found herself in what appeared to be a warehouse or storage place or something of that nature. She saw that she was in some sort of jungle like setting that reminded her of a safari she once was a part of to the Congo; an adventure that she was definitely not going to tell Dean about because that was something that…

Shaking her head and blinking since she was certain that Sam's theory regarding her eyes was correct. The spell was conflicting with her natural ability to see which was why she felt like she was suffering a migraine. She pulled out her cell phone and checked to see that she still had a signal. Pleased that she did, she texted Sam's phone and tapped in a few keys and put it back in her pocket. She started forward in this interesting exploration.

It definitely felt like it was being in the Congo again since she heard familiar sounds of that place. She was tempted to turn around and look for the one thing that made that trip, which she affectionately called a vacation, but found nothing. Still the sounds brought back memories.

"This is an interesting place."

"Are you going to say that to every place that I've been dumped in?"

Castiel looked at Angela as she stood amongst the foliage. There really was nothing else for him to say considering that she had landed into situations that couldn't call for anything else. "Shall I come up with another meaningless platitude?"

Angela gave a slight grin and chuckled, "You really need to work on recognizing my form of sarcasm." She took a breath and looked around and blinked. "So you following me again Cas? You managed to find out something that I don't know like the craziness is being orchestrated by a demon?"

"Nothing like that but it is evident that there is some activity. It's just not enough to cause concern," Castiel replied,

"Not enough for concern? Cas, demon activity is always a problem," Angela replied looking at the angel like he was being stupid for suggesting that.

"Not enough concern for my superiors but… I investigated." Castiel felt a bit uncomfortable in this conversation but even more so in the environment that his charge had been dropped in. "I discovered that the activity was kept to a minimum to mask a bigger one."

Angela gave a slight nod as she started forward through this jungle. She didn't doubt that Castiel would follow her. She was right when he started walking. "Could be that the activity is being kept to a minimum because Lilith is searching for a seal."

"That is a possibility. The activity that has not warranted concern is much like what is being experienced here."

Angela gave a slight eye roll as she reached up to rub the bridge of her nose again. "It's a distraction and probably carried at covert levels. Must be a pretty important seal or something." She shrugged her shoulders.

Castiel noticed her rubbing her eyes. Something wasn't right but she wasn't talking. It was more likely one of those personal space things but he would keep an eye on it. "It is possible. All the seals are important. You know that only 66 are needed to break open the Cage."

"I know Cas. That was made clear to me at my crash course in Bible camp," Angela replied. "However, assuming that demons have certain attachments, there are probably certain seals that would have meaning to Lilith or the troupe that she is hanging around with. Perhaps there is something about this one that she is looking for…" She studied Castiel and he was still giving his signature blank stare. She made a motion with her hand and said, "Forget it. It probably is ridiculous as it sounds. Right now I need to find out where I have been dumped and with a spell conflicting with my natural abilities in regards to my eyes."

"It is not ridiculous. You always manage to make even the ridiculous sound plausible."

Angela knew that it was a compliment but it really wasn't helping all that much in the grand scheme of things at the moment. "Oh thank you. Now I am a crazy that makes crazy sound normal. Just what I've always wanted."

"You aren't crazy. It is a subjective term."

"Cas, please relax on the compliments. I think I might end up like one of the poor schmucks that thought or acted out these idioms that have been killing or maiming people." Angela continued to walk forward. She wasn't sure why the demon selected this kind of landscape. Most demons didn't learn how to read minds and her version of it, she wouldn't touch unless it was necessary though a certain fang boy could do it as easily as breathing.

"Highly unlikely. More likely this was supposed to be a distraction and you ended up in it. Most of them don't seem to be lasting harm."

"Try telling that to the mailman that lost his hand for pushing the envelope or the guy with the mailed fist."

"They are alive."

"Besides the point Cas," Angela replied as she frowned at the sight. The jungle started to recede and she saw sand. What was going on? She had been in some crazy situations before but this was more along the lines of… She slowed down since this was how the demon operated. If this was sand from a beach… that meant that she might be in the same place as Dean. If she found Dean, Sam would be able to find the two of them and they could…

"This is strange. Are you certain it is a demon doing this?"

"Yes but it is not our usual fare. I think this one thinks on a different level."

Castiel watched as his charge continued to walk forward onto the changing landscape. He was perplexed at the setting and couldn't understand it. "Then this makes this demon more dangerous."

"Any demon is dangerous… with a couple of exceptions," Angela replied as she put her hand on Castiel's steps to stop his advance. She frowned as she looked around intently at everything. Her 'hawk eyes' could see a far distance and she thought she made out something. "This one I think operates on a different level. I think a different way of dealing with it is needed. Thanks for the drop in Cas."

"You may require assistance."

"And I'll call. Right now I have to go help Dean out of a… sticky situation." Angela made a slight face at that. She looked at Castiel who looked rather wounded at the fact that she wasn't asking for help even though he had that straight face that made it look like he had a stick up his ass. She made a slight noise with her breath and she added, "Cas, I think I can handle this one. Just let us jump off the cliff with this one and maybe we'll see if we can fly."

Castiel frowned at that reference slightly. He had heard that phrase before. In fact one of his older brothers told him that when he was still a fledgling. How she knew that phrase was a little baffling and something to ponder on for later. He would trust her judgment. "Alright."

"Thanks Cas."

Angela was still smiling when Castiel left in a flutter. She continued forward on the beach towards the goal. She came across a scene that would prove to be embarrassing and something that she would rather not see Dean suffer and reacted. Channeling her power, she made a motion with her hand as she advanced forward and the douche flew through the air and was pinned to the sand. He wasn't going to be moving for some time.

"Thank God you're here Angie. Where's Sam?"

Angela looked at Dean and replied, "He's coming."

Dean looked at her as if she were nuts but he nodded in complete trust. She would have said something but was interrupted by a voice saying, "Now that wasn't very nice. You were supposed to be where I left you."

* * *

**A/N:** Looks like Angie and Dean are in the demon's web. At least Angie can keep the douche off of Dean. Will Sam get to them on time before something worse happens? Find out on the exciting conclusion of The Failed Demon...


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Angela looked along with Dean to see the strawberry blonde demon wearing a pouting expression on her face and looking at them. She imitated the movement of her head like the demon was doing and said, "Well if you knew me, you would know that I don't like it when someone messes with people that I am close to."

"I know. Your file says it all."

"File?"

"Surveillance is good at getting info from persons of interest."

"Persons of interest?" Dean looked at the demon bitch and then at the douche who was still pinned on the ground. To him the guy looked like he was enjoying it and Dean found that rather creepy since he was sure that Angela gave a little extra pressure on the pinning to the ground thing. That's what he would do and he would have no problem with it.

"Upper management is very interested in the high rollers," the demon replied as she surveyed Dean and Angela. "You know you are very much alike but one is more of a damsel. I wonder who the puppy follows the most."

Dean was going to say something when Angela grabbed him by the arm gently and shook her head slightly. Her eyes never left the demon that was looking at them and at first Dean thought it was a bit creepy but he figured out that there was a reason for it. What got under his skin and amused him was the fact that the demon referred to Sam as a puppy. It amused him because Sam was like a puppy when he did the whole eyes and he did have a habit of hovering, more on Angela's end than his, and because of the hair flapping everywhere. The annoyance was the way the demon bitch said it.

Angela just blinked as she tried to focus. The headache was a pain in the ass and it looked like it was only going to get worse. First things though, she had to figure out what to do in the situation that she and Dean were in. She was willing to bet that there was something there for her and Dean's problem was lying on the beach looking like he enjoyed it. This was definitely the hall of weird worthy. She decided to tentatively probe, "Upper management?"

"You know; the ones that run the company. I thought you were smart." The demon frowned as she continued to study them.

"Right," Angela replied as she looked at Dean that said she was going to take the wheel on this. "So they are interested in us. Any reason why?"

"Why would I tell you?"

"Because we're cute," Dean replied in a sarcastic manner. "Maybe because Godzilla busted me out."

Angela made a slight eye roll. She tried to rectify it by adding, "Think of it this way, a person always likes to know what the enemy thinks of them." She looked at Dean and gave a slight shrug of her shoulders.

"Interesting point. Rival companies do like to get the scoop on the other." The demon sighed and looked around. "However I think this is boring so maybe you should be going back to what you were doing." She snapped her fingers.

Dean was glad that the guy was pinned but he didn't expect the evil twin to walk out of the jungle scene. Immediately it started making advances towards him. He couldn't help but say, "Oh hell no." He started running and it seemed that he was running faster because douche number two seemed to be a lot faster.

Angela reacted and was about to fling the guy off of Dean but heard a sound and turned to look. She raised her brow at the sight of a giant cat coming slowly out of the jungle and not just any cat but a big black one. It wasn't doing anything except coming out but that didn't mean that the situation would change. She turned slowly to face it on and raised her hands slowly. She didn't have to be a genius to know that she was facing a panther.

The cat growled and then screamed at her. She continued to back away slowly, trying not to give the cat any reason to charge. Staring it in the eye was not really a good idea but it was an idea and she had a way with animals; it saved her neck a couple of times. So she looked at it in the eye and stood there firm.

It seemed to work a little as the cat came closer and sort of sniffed and heaved around a bit. Well it was panting. It was growling a little as it walked around but still towards her. Angela maintained her ground and continued to stare at the beast, praying that if a standoff were to occur, she could at least have a little leverage.

The cat got close and looked at her. Suddenly it screamed and tried to swipe at her. Angela had moved back a few steps slowly to avoid it and in so doing she tripped over the douche that she had pinned. That move made the cat scream louder and started moving into a charge.

Angela was up after giving an elbow to the douche who was cooing at the attention and she knew she had to start running. She was aware that she was playing cat and mouse and she was not the cat.

"Looks like you might have ruffled someone's fur," the demon replied as she watched the large cat chase after Angela.

Angela said nothing since she was focused on running. She could recall the first lesson she taught Sam when they were training for that tournament. Yeah it was nice to stand up and fight but sometimes the smartest thing to do was to run away. That was generally the best weapon when you knew that you weren't going to win, which sounded hypocritical to the fact that she would prefer to go down swinging.

Since she lost sight of Dean, she couldn't help him and she hoped that he was doing all right. At the moment she was concerned about the giant cat following her. She ran through the jungle she took off into and listened and occasionally looked back. The thing was on her tail and there to stay unless she managed to get it ganked and she didn't have a gun.

Rounding a boulder she saw Sam come in. He looked stunned at that she was being chased but he reacted by tossing her favorite gun, the Beretta, towards her. She caught it with her outstretched hand since she was heading towards him and she had been motioning for him to get out of the way. She whirled around and felt a burning sensation on her upper arm. She ignored it as she faced the cat and fired a couple of rounds at the torso of the cat.

The collision though was to be expected and Angela and the cat went into the brush. When she opened her eyes, she found that she was being greeted by fur and it felt like she was carrying the Impala on her. It took a moment to realize that the cat had dropped on top of her and died. So she was under a dead cat. It was a relief when Sam came into the picture and asked, "Angie, you all right?"

"Might be if this thing wasn't on top of me," Angela managed to grunt. "Perfect timing. What took you so long?" She turned to look at Sam and give a slight smile to know that she was just glad that was over.

"GPS problems," Sam replied with a slight smile. There had been no problems. It was just that because she was moving around so much it was hard to pinpoint the exact location. He started trying to lift the big cat off but the thing was heavy. "Damn."

"So the puppy followed the pretty lady. Interesting."

Sam whirled around and pulled the demon killing knife out. The demon was standing there and observing them. At that moment Dean burst through looking like he was being chased by a monster and following behind was a surfer douche that looked like an animal that was on the chase. Sam frowned at that and turned his attention back towards the demon. "What do you want?"

Katherine looked at Sam as he stood ready to defend the pinned Angela. She chuckled when Dean ran by. Suddenly there was a noise and Dean flew out of the brush and landed on his back. His hand was clearly swollen from the punch he gave the first one. Definitely something was broken. "How nice," Katherine said.

Sam stood up leaving Angela. She had given a tap that said she was fine and would be just peachy. He looked at the demon and repeated, "What do you want?"

"To kill Sam Winchester."

It had been uttered so matter of fact that for a moment it seemed comical. The strange thing was that Dean and Angela were in trouble and Sam was left standing. Was it a mental torture thing? That usually worked and often had devastating consequences. Sam stuttered a bit before saying, "Okay then why are you going after Dean and Angie?"

"They fell into the spell."

Dean was scrambling back on the ground. He looked around for a weapon and felt some comfort with a rock. He would give hell. "Yeah well ya got me so quit it. Leave Sam alone." He took a swipe at the douche chasing him.

Sam looked at his brother and then at the demon. "Okay so they got involved with whatever is going on. Why?"

"Because it's fun and you did come like I thought you would. It wasn't an opportunity to pass up. Distract the Winchesters and their pretty Absolution and then upper management will be pleased," Katherine replied. She pulled out her cell phone and looked at the text message that came in. "It looks like though my job is finished." Looking up at Sam she smiled, "Nice job Sammy. The puppy followed and ended up with the pretty lady. So interesting."

Normally Sam would have lunged at the demon and was prepared to just at the moment Dean was grabbed in a chokehold y the douche. He started to swing but the demon waved her hand and something hit him, which turned out to be a beam from somewhere. She said, "That was not nice."

Sam grunted since he got a nice clout on his bad shoulder and the shoulder blades. He still had the knife in his hand as he lifted himself to look at Dean who was looking red in the face as he was trying to push the guy away and Angela was trying to lift the dead cat. He looked up at the demon and started to get up and charge.

Katherine watched and at the last moment she snapped her fingers. At that moment, the douche and the cat disappeared. Everything was gone and it was apparent that they were inside some sort of warehouse. She looked at Sam and said, "All you had to do was ask. Maybe next time we might have some fun."

Sam was ready to lunge when she disappeared. He felt the breath he had been holding come out and his lungs filled with needed air. He looked over at Dean who was gasping for air while he walked over. Angela was still on the ground frowning at the place where the demon was. There was a slight pressure still since she was sure that her bruised ribs had been jarred a bit and she could feel the wetness from her blood on the back of her arm. The headache was still there but there was nothing wrong with her eyes.

Sam was the one to help her up and this time she didn't resist. She did manage to say, "That was odd."

"Tell me about it," Dean muttered as he looked at his hand. It was definitely swollen and possibly broken. "I'm gonna gank her ass."

* * *

"So what the hell did that bitch want?"

Angela looked at Dean who was scratching where the splint had been placed on his hand. There was a bone broken and she had set it even though she could have just as easily healed it with her mojo. She looked at Sam who was tending to her arm which had bled quite a bit but the scratches weren't deep enough to require stitches. Just a thorough cleaning and a bandage wrap. Her ribs had proven to be fine, just a little tender since she had been well on the mend. She replied, "Honestly, I'm stumped but I'm willing to bet that it was to be a distraction."

"A distraction from what? There were no signs of omens," Dean replied looking agitated. He hated the splint and he could see why Angela had hated it when she had broken her hand.

"I know. Jo filled me in and I asked around," Angela replied as she reached over and swatted at Dean's good hand. When he gave her a look she said, "Don't mess with the splint unless you want me to do the padding and fiberglass right here and now."

"You're bluffing."

"Try me," Angela replied as she narrowed her eyes in a teasing manner. "I saw a whole bunch of expressions today and believe me I'm up for any trouble you give me you ornery mule."

Dean stared back ready to spar with her on that. He was a bit shocked that she called him a mule but he had been called worse and some he wasn't even sure about from her. He looked at his brother who was finishing with the cleaning and asked, "Are you going to put up with this?"

Sam put down the rag he had been using to clean the gouges and picked up the antiseptic. "Leave me out of it Dean. I warned you plenty of times." He focused on putting the ointment on the gashes that looked nasty since they looked red and inflamed. He hoped that there wasn't an infection. That demon had been strange enough and it might occur to her to do it.

Dean knew he wasn't getting back up and finally left the splint alone. He didn't relish the idea of a cast so he decided to behave. "Fine."

"Oh good for you Dean," Angela teased to hide the fact that she had twitched from the sting of the antiseptic. She laughed a little along with Sam's chuckle before adding, "Don't worry. I'll look at it in the morning and maybe it might be better. As to the demon, like I said, I'm betting it was a distraction. She mentioned it."

"And why the distraction?" Sam had asked the question quietly as he picked up the roll of bandages. He started wrapping her arm much like he did her hands. Thinking about it, it was the first in a while that she let him help with an injury and it was a bit perplexing since one moment she was willing to let him help and the next she was hiding. It was probably nothing and he brushed it aside as he made sure the bandage wasn't too tight.

"I'm thinking for a seal," Angela replied.

"Wouldn't there be more activity?" Dean frowned at that as he asked the question.

"Probably," Angela replied as she turned to look at Sam's work. The tip of his fingers brushed her skin and it produced a tingle that was rather satisfying. She didn't react, at least she thought she didn't, and continued, "I'm thinking though that it is a specific seal that might have some importance to Lilith. What it is… I don't know."

"So all of this was to distract our attention?"

"More than likely. The lack of activity aside from this is interesting. It's like Lilith may have gone to the covert division; Cary's territory." Angela mused on it as Sam tied off the bandage. She gently rotated her arm to test it and gave a smile in Sam's direction but was a bit concerned about the look he was giving. "I'm thinking that maybe she's trying a new approach or this seal is a big one and she doesn't want to reveal her hand. Either one works."

Sam got up and put the roll back in the bag and walked out of the room. Dean was going to chase after him but Angela stopped him. She had an idea what this was about. Dean protested, "Angie."

"Let me Dean. I think I know what this is about." Angela gave a slight smile and walked out to follow Sam.

Dean watched them leave. In his mind she was much more observant and he figured it was because she was in love with Sam. It made people more observant. He also figured that it was something said between them and probably about Cary. He knew Angela trusted him as far as well never and he figured that the worm might have sold her out to the Old Man since she admitted that he had double crossed her before.

Angela followed Sam out to where he was leaning on the Impala. She stopped to create a slight distance and said, "You know you used to call me childish for walking out like that."

Sam looked out at nothing before looking at her. "Why do you trust that demon so much? I mean you seem to trust him more than Ruby." The implication was clear.

"I don't trust Cary because I know that sooner or later he fucks with me. Occasionally he is innocent in that he is given bad info. You know why me and Ruby cross swords and are currently in an informal parley." Angela studied Sam as he looked at his hands. "What's the problem Sam?"

Sam looked at her. He wasn't angry with her really. It was just what they talked about previously and the whole double standards act. He knew she didn't tell him what to do and simply said that he had a choice to make and she wasn't one to judge. "Just… I saw him Angie."

Angela moved her head slightly, "And?"

Sam looked away trying to figure out how to say it. He finally said, "I saw him help the guy that took you that night. He helped him."

"I know," Angela replied softly.

"You know? Then why do you still trust him, summon him…" Sam made a motion with his arms as if to prompt an answer from her. "I know you summoned him. It's what I would do if you wanted something from the other side like your theory with the seal."

"Very astute Sam. Yes I do know because I know Cary can't keep secrets from me. He knows what I can do and that doesn't require me tapping into my mojo," Angela replied as she stepped closer. "I've been using him for years and he knows I do carry out a threat when I mean it. Why do you think I keep saying that I am not one to judge? Sam, I know that there is a fine line between certain things but most of those things are within the realm of shades of grey. It's not always simple."

"He betrayed you."

"And he was forced into it." Angela waited until Sam was looking at her before she explained, "The Old Man had the nerve to spill the beans. Funny thing is he thought himself a master at that kind of mind game." She looked off as if remembering.

Sam studied her. It did sound ridiculous now that he thought about it. He could have come straight out and asked but instead fell into a temper tantrum. "Sorry."

"Don't be. It was just something that was never given much thought to. Maybe that demon did do their job in distracting us and not just from the seal." She gave a slight hum and when Sam caught her eye, she chuckled.

Sam couldn't help but smile. "I guess so. It was pretty funny when Dean ran over a fork in the road."

"I saw pink elephants and I'm sure Dr. Thompson did too."

"Who?"

"The coroner and something else," Angela replied as she recalled what happened. "Let's just say that I know things and I'm not telling."

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Knowing you and Dean?" Angela smiled and started laughing. It was joined by Sam's. Things had been weird with that case but it looked like things were going to be okay. The ones she had been able to save were doing fine. It was just a matter of them getting through what happened to them. At least things could be laughed at even if some of it were a life and death situation.

* * *

"I warned you that Absolution is a lot smarter and has a different set of resources."

Lilith scowled at Crowley. She resisted the urge to burn the flesh off his bones at that moment since he did have a consultant out there looking for what she wanted. That didn't mean that things went well in the least. "I know Absolution is clever. That's why I wanted puppy division to really screw with them."

"Puppy division did do her job. She left them puzzled for the time being," Crowley replied coolly. He had been amused at the results that occurred and it seemed that Katherine had decided to get a little more violent even if she was still playing with her prey. The cat and mouse game was rather fun since his sweetheart was fast on her feet.

"I'll admit that but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that something was up. Even your little worm Cary dropped a hint or two," Lilith pointed out. "Besides I wanted that thing to at least try and get rid of the Winchesters."

"As much as you and some of the senior level management want the Winchesters taken care of, they aren't stupid to mess with Absolution. You would know that by firsthand experience now wouldn't you?"

Lilith grew a bit quiet at that. She did remember that night when her pet killed Dean. She was going to kill both Sam and Angela but it didn't work. Instead she was greeted by someone who looked ready to unleash holy hell. While she was not afraid of Angela per se, deep down she was afraid of what she could do.

After that she had asked around and heard different stories about Absolution. Some were impressive and others could be attributed to flukes. Then what she had witnessed in Jade's arena; that was something that brought the old fear back. She replied, "I am well aware of what Absolution can do."

"Then you must also know that her talents have expanded."

"I know. Look what she did to Jade," Lilith pointed out.

"It could be useful," Crowley pointed out. He wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of what happened to the slut that was head of entertainment but he was astute enough to know that Absolution still had a moral streak that made it infuriating to watch but impossible to let go. He saw her as a living contradiction.

Lilith looked at the demon and then at the report. Katherine had failed to do what she wanted which was to kill the Winchesters, especially Sam since he was a major threat. However there was the matter of Absolution. That bitch had the ability to interfere and possibly ruin the operation unless they used her and from what Crowley was getting at, that might prove to be a good thing. Have Absolution find what they needed…

"I can tell that the wheels are turning in your head love," Crowley said as he studied Lilith.

Lilith looked at Crowley and gave a slow smile, "Indeed I do Crowley. I just remembered something an old friend tried to do and it might prove to be useful in breaking down Absolution."

"And what is that?" Crowley had a good idea since he placed the hint and had ordered Katherine to drop hints though she really didn't do that very well.

"Make Absolution break a seal."

* * *

**A/N:** All's well that ends well sort of as always for the Winchesters. As well as can be expected but it looks like Lilith has plans for something bigger. Find out in episode 3.04 Howl for the Sun and Moon...


End file.
